


REMAINS

by stormy1990



Series: Story Of The Underworld [5]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's Jr., KAT-TUN (Band), Kanjani8 (Band), KinKi Kids, Kis-My-Ft2 (Band), Love-tune, Sexy Zone, SixTONES (Band), Snow Man (Japan Band)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-05-24 22:59:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 86,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14963849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1990/pseuds/stormy1990
Summary: The Underground was on high alert through Avernus threatening to overthrow the Titanium Triangle.The fate of the Underground lay in the hands of the remaining Triangle and Fight Club members which were ready to fight not just for the Underground, but also for their friends. Those they wanted to rescue and those which needed to be brought back on the right path. Would they be able to bring them all back home safely?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we FINALLY go with the LAST part of the whole Fight Club series!  
> For those who are reading since the first part, welcome back! I hope you enjy this part as well!  
> For those who might have stumbled over this somehow, pls start with the Tokyo Fight Club Chronicles series if you want to understand the whole storyline^^y
> 
> Pls be prepared for the usual spelling, grammar mistakes!
> 
> Have fun reading~

Kamenashi’s men had helped them right away as the fight club members left the Mugen hideout and because the Exposers hideout was the closest they all ended up there once more. After all they had not just Kamenashi, but also Kento and Abe to help treating the wounded fighters so there was no need to head back to the club in a hurry.

But to make sure that Nakai got informed about everything and the other fight clubs could get warned that they were still not safe they had sent some of Kamenashi’s men over, together with Daiki and Hikaru, because they needed someone who had actually witnessed the tournament to explain the details.

Nikaido wanted to go, but with Kentaro still in a dangerous state in which he could run back to the hideout every second he had asked the two boys to report and luckily Kitayama had told them that he was fine and they should go.

Kamenashi had made clear that every injured person would stay in a different room to make sure that no one was disturbing their treatment with their arguing which was definitely about to happen as  soon as everyone calmed down.

Miyadate and Abe were taking care of Watanabe, while Fuma and Kento were with Tegoshi and Kitayama. Kamenashi took a look at Kentaro’s wounds, but it wasn’t easy, because the boy hadn’t sat down once even though they had already brought all the others to different rooms.

“Kentaro, could you calm down? I don’t want you to collapse,” Kamenashi scolded the boy, but he ignored him completely, finally taking action as he approached Myuto and Fukka which were the only people left aside from Nikaido, Ueda and Kamenashi in the big meeting room. But Ueda was more or less in an out of service state since they had arrived. Kamenashi had told him to rest, after all he was still far from okay and the same applied for Fuma, but with Kento at his side Kamenashi didn’t have to worry that much. While Ueda was half lying on one of the couches with an expression as if his soul had separated from his body the first fight was about to start when Kentaro took Myuto by the collar.

Myuto jolted, but didn’t try to get out of his grip. He would even take punches and kicks without any complain in his current state, because he knew how reckless he had been. Fukka didn’t look much better and he seemed to slowly crumble while he realized what had happened through their behavior.

“Kentaro, don’t start a-”

“Was he breathing?” Kentaro interrupted Kamenashi who had feared that he would punch his friend.

“What?” Myuto asked in confusion, but was shaken violently on the collar in response. “DAMN IT, MYUTO. WAS TAIGA BREATHING WHEN DOMOTO LIFTED HIM UP?”

“Please Kentaro, calm down…”

“I AM NOT CALMING DOWN,” Kentaro cut Kamenashi harshly again and looked to the side at Nikaido and then at Ueda, but while Nikaido just gave him an understanding look, Ueda had his eyes closed as if he didn’t even realize what was going on right next to him. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU? HOW CAN YOU ACT THAT CALM?”

Without waiting for an answer he turned back to Myuto who bit his lip and faced the ground for a moment before Kentaro tightened his grip and got ready to yell at him once more, but Myuto reacted at the same moment, taking the other one’s hands so that he couldn’t start shaking him.

“I don’t know, okay! I know I’ve been the closest to him at that moment, but I really don’t know!”

With a curse Kentaro pushed Myuto away and turned around, pulling at his hair while letting out one curse after the other. Myuto and Fukka retreated a little bit to the back of the room on a hand movement of Kamenashi, telling them to try and go on distance for now and there was nothing they could do anyways. Scolding them wasn’t helping anyone. They would need some time for themselves as well after all they hadn’t actually planned on creating such a mess.

When Kentaro suddenly lost balance and had to fight hard to not fall over Nikaido moved forward right away, but Kentaro slashed away his hand when he reached out for him.

“Leave me alone!”

“Kentaro, please you have to sit down for now,” Kamenashi tried once more while Nikaido stepped back in silence. There was no way Kentaro would listen to him for now, after all he was the one who had made all of them leave, so he would get the biggest blame. “I promise you to get information about Taiga’s condition as soon as I can, but it won’t help him if you overstrain your body like this. You think he would want to see you in such a condition after everything he did to make sure that you get out safe?”

Kamenashi’s words actually made a shadow pass Kentaro’s face as everything repeated itself in front of his eyes once more and then his anger got replaced without a warning, replaced by sorrow and fear, so much fear about his friend that it was too much to handle.

With a scream he dropped to his knees and that was actually when Ueda seemed to finally react to his surroundings again and he sat up slowly, looking at Kentaro who had bent to the front. But as much as he tried to hide his sobs he couldn’t. Tears were dropping on the ground, while he hit the floor with the side of his fist with low curses.

“Why…why always us?” Kentaro let out in a broken voice, with his sobs making it almost impossible to understand him. “Didn’t we face enough already? All of us lost precious people and we all went through hell together, why- why does it always have to get worse?”

Nikaido felt as broken as him remembering all the hardship he had brought over the boys before, but before he could actually make a step towards him someone else had reached out for the boy and stopped his hand from hitting the ground once more. First Kentaro struggled, but then he was suddenly pulled to the back and in a tight embrace which made him freeze.

“I’m sorry! If I had been strong enough to protect Taiga from the start then all of this wouldn’t have happened! Please forgive me for not being able to get him out of there until now. Please forgive me…”

There were several things that shocked Kentaro about what was going on and Ueda hugging him with his body shaking nonstop, his voice ready to break and his words hurting like a thousand knives piercing through his chest were definitely part of the shock, but seeing him cry when he looked up at him over his shoulder was something that Kentaro couldn’t comprehend. How could they still stay strong when Ueda, the strongest of all of them was crumbling right in front of his eyes?

“When I decided to disappear when Taiga thought I had died I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought I was protecting him at that time. Now I know how wrong I was. The pain he had to go through because of my actions is finally getting redirected to me. Fate finally made me pay in the worst way possible.”

Still fighting with his own tears Kentaro turned around and sat up on his knees, putting his arms tightly around Ueda’s shoulders while the other one sat on the ground with an expression of someone who was about to give up on life.

“Don’t say that, please don’t say that ever again,” Kentaro whispered as he rested his forehead on Ueda’s hair and shook his head slightly. “No one is blaming you! Nothing of this is your fault!”

There was no answer just another sob and everyone else in the room also remained silent while both tried to comfort each other. Breaking down in front of their friends wasn’t something they liked, but in this case it was necessary to be able to stand up again! And until they were ready to keep fighting they needed to rest as much as it hurt them.

***

There were just fragments Taiga remembered after his friends had left. Domoto had carried him backstage while shouting at Sakurai to get everything ready to help him and the fact that he seemed still alive was proof enough that Sakurai was at least as skilled as Kamenashi in medical treatments or he wouldn’t have been able to rescue him. Taiga had seen a lot of bad injuries and carried a lot of them himself. It had been hard enough to rescue Kentaro back then after Hasshi had shot him, but the bullet wound he carried now was different. He had been way closer and the bullet had buried directly into his chest, it was a miracle to himself how he was still alive.

One other thing he remembered was regaining consciousness a little bit clearer when Domoto had put him on a table in a room he hadn’t see until then. The ones which had held him down when he tried to struggle, scared of what was going on, were Kochi and Juri which had made him struggle even more. Kochi putting an ammonia containing fabric over his mouth was the last thing he remembered.

But now he seemed to be back in a bed, because he lay way too comfortable for a table and carefully he opened his eyes. It didn’t take him long to realize that he was in Domoto’s room, after all the wooden desk at the end of the bed was proof enough. What he also realized pretty fast was that he wasn’t alone, but even though the person sitting next to the bed on a chair was awake and had realized that he was awake hadn’t said anything and it was definitely for the better or Taiga would have maybe freaked on the spot and with his wound that wouldn’t actually be a good idea.

Juri was looking at him with a weird to interpret look. He was worried that was obvious and he also seemed to want to talk to him, but of course there were enough reasons to make him hesitate.

Taiga tried to sit up a little bit, but he regretted his move right away shocked by the wave of pain running through his body.

“Don’t move! You still need to rest or the wound could open again,” Juri said without hesitation this time, but it was clear that he had been ordered by Domoto to make sure that he wouldn’t move as soon as he woke up. If he had slept for longer there would have maybe been someone else next to his bed and as much as he tried to keep calm he couldn’t from wishing that it would have been someone else.

“For how long was I asleep?” Taiga asked in the most neutral voice he could somehow bring out, while he tried to make his body relax, but the pain wouldn’t stop now that he had moved and like a thousand needles his chest got pierced through with a burning pain and he let out a long breath while closing his eyes.

“Here, take those, they will ease the pain. Sakurai said it won’t make it vanish completely, but it’s the strongest painkiller he has,” Juri said as he held out a small pill towards Taiga, but of course the boy looked sceptic. “I can also just leave it here, but there will be always someone here to watch out for you for the next days. But if you feel more comfortable with someone else around I can call one of the others to give you the painkiller.”

“Why Juri?”

Taiga didn’t care for the still not answered question from before, it could wait. This question though couldn’t. After all he had known the time would come he had to face Juri and Kochi again. Juri understood the question right away and his look darkened a lot as he seemed to get smaller in his chair, but Taiga wouldn’t take silence as an answer.

“We trusted you, both of you! You risked your lives to help Kentaro and me, how dare you betray us like this?”

“It was all part of the plan-”

“Plan my ass! Juri I know you good enough to know that the moment you started to be friends with us that plan had suddenly become extremely unimportant to you! Kochi could have gotten killed back then and you two still went to get Fukka, Myuto and the others to help us. You could have let us all run into our death. Your mission would have been completed then already! Why backstab us now?”

This time Juri remained silent. The discomfort was visible all over now. The way he nervously shifted on the chair and twiddled his fingers while facing the ground was proof enough that he was indeed not happy with the situation.

“Get out…” Taiga let out in a low voice on which Juri finally looked up again, as if he had heard wrong.

“What?”

“I told you to get out! Get out of my sight! If you have nothing to say I don’t want you around.”

“But, Taiga-”

“OUT!” Raising his voice had been another mistake, because even taking a deep breath was hurting him a lot and he let out a groan on which Juri jumped up with a worried expression.

“Sorry, please calm down,” Juri let out almost panicked and it hurt even more to not know if he was really worried that Taiga’s condition could get worse or if he was just scared that he could get punished for it when Domoto found out. “I will call someone else to take a look at you.”

With fast steps Juri walked around the bed and towards the door, but when he grabbed the doorknob he halted. The struggle lasted for quite a while, but Taiga didn’t even realize it, because he was busy with suppressing the pain.

“The absence of Mugen in Tokyo and the Storm Warriors and Dancing Rascals laying low and waiting for Domoto to return gave those who were out for missions some time away from all the rules. It was planned from the very beginning that we’d try and befriend with some members to make it easier, but…” Juri took another deep breath and Taiga tried to concentrate on what he was saying, because as much as he was disappointed in his friends he wanted to at least know the reason behind their betrayal. “We might have taken it a little bit too far with getting part of the club, so when Avernus was finally reunited and direct orders were given out already it was just a matter of time for us to complete our mission.”

“Be happy that it failed or I would kill you right here and now,” Taiga hissed in such a hateful voice that it made Juri shiver and he opened the door in such a hurry that it almost seemed as if he wanted to run away. When he was already out he turned around once more, facing the boy with a careful look.

“By the way you were asleep for 4 days. You were awake from time to time, but Sakurai gave you such strong pain killers that he said you won’t remember.”

Taiga almost had to laugh when Juri closed the door right after that. The way he remembered about such an unimportant question and needed to answer it even though Taiga was ready to get a huge outburst at him was so much like the Juri he knew. Maybe hope still wasn’t lost completely. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that a lot of Avernus members had lost their way somewhere in the progress and some of them just needed to be guided back. The question was if he was willing to reach out for them after what they had done.

***

“Wait, what? You are leaving?” Kentaro asked in complete disbelieve when Kento, Fuma and to his surprise Shintaro had announced that they were leaving.

Just the day before they had returned to the fight club, after Kamenashi had given his okay for the injured ones to get moved.

With the North Fight Club being something like their safe zone in the Underground since the tournament most of them had said they would stay. Especially Miyadate and Abe were extremely thankful that they had a safe place to stay, after all Watanabe needed to rest some days longer to be fine and they had nowhere else to go with their goal being to return to the Mugen hideout to rescue their friend.

Myuto had the other remaining fighters of his destroyed fight club had joined Fukka’s fight club for now. It wasn’t like they had been forbidden to come to the North Tokyo fight club, but it seemed like they both needed some more time to handle what they had caused.

The others had more or less just come back as usual, not really discussing anything about a plan, but sooner or later they had to. After all The Titanium Triangle was also in danger and while Kamenashi’s troop was guarding the borders to Avernus as good as possible, Kitayama also needed some time to recover. Luckily it seemed the same for Avernus, because at least for the last week there had been no attack.

“I will come back,” Shintaro said after an unpleasant long moment of silence in the training room. Nakai had been updated about everything that had happened and had welcomed them all back the evening before to stay at the club, but now the four boys had informed Kentaro, Ueda and Nikaido that they would leave.

“And you three won’t?” Kentaro asked carefully on which Kento gave him an apologizing look.

“We want to make sure that Sou and his family are safe. Now is maybe our only chance to get his family out of here without getting into even more trouble,” Kento explained and no one could actually say something against that. “Shintaro has offered to show us a safe place in Chiba he knows so that they are out of the Underground fight area for good.”

“And when you dropped them off, what then?” Nikaido asked while Ueda stayed silent.

“As I said I will definitely come back right away!” Shintaro said once more as if he was afraid that Ueda could think that he was trying to run away, which he definitely wasn’t. While others had ended up with injuries after the tournament he was on his best way to recover and he was just waiting for the moment he could finally be of some help again.

“And you?” Nikaido asked Fuma and Kento directly this time, but the two boys stayed silent and exchanged a brief look.

“We actually had a talk about this a few days ago at Kamenashi’s hideout already,” Fuma explained. “For the whole week I wasn’t able to do more than just walk around for just a few minutes. Alone the tournament had drained me of a lot of energy.”

“Exactly a reason why you definitely shouldn’t go on such a long trip now,” Kentaro interrupted him.

“But when I leave him here he will end up fighting again,” Kento replied and that actually made Kentaro bit his lip and remain silent, after all he couldn’t deny that. As soon as Fuma would feel even a little bit better he would want to join them for their next attack, which was just a matter of time and as much as Kentaro would like him at their side to help getting Taiga back he also couldn’t blame Kento for wanting him to stay out of the upcoming fight. He had been hurt enough already.

What surprised Kentaro though was that Fuma didn’t seem against Kento’s decision at all. Sure he had been the one who had decided to start a new life with Kento out of the Underground, but leaving like this without even seeming the slightest worried or angry was something Kentaro hadn’t seen until now. He would normally always make a scene. Was his new found life so precious to him that he wanted to make sure to cut off ties with the Underground for good, no matter if he had to leave his friends behind or not?

“We can’t stop you, but I have to say Kentaro is right. Fuma you shouldn’t take your wound lightly.” Ueda was suddenly heard to all their surprises. “Kento, make sure to get some utensils from Miyata so that you can treat his wound if necessary. We don’t want Fuma to end up like Shintaro on our travel back to Tokyo.”

On that the younger one’s look darkened a little bit, even though no one blamed him, after all it hadn’t been his fault.

“Are you angry?” Kento asked carefully as no one else dared to ask the most obvious question. Ueda who had been standing in the back, leaning against the wall until now, while the others were standing next to the ring, let out a sigh and stepped forward with crossed arms to his chest.

“You didn’t even enter this fight on your own, how could anyone be angry at you for wanting out again?”

It was a logical answer, but it didn’t change the fact that it looked like they weren’t caring for Taiga, but Ueda didn’t seem upset. Not that he seemed to feel anything at all since his breakdown right after the tournament. No one had told the others about it, but they could sense that Ueda shouldn’t be approached with the topic for the time being. Kamenashi had tried to get some information about Taiga, but since the tournament it seemed like Avernus had vanished behind closed doors. Most of the members seemed to stay at the Mugen hideout now, with the Dancing Rascal and Storm Warrior hideouts just being places for the lower members to gather and wait for instructions. But with the three leaders all at the same place it also was just a matter of time until they would finally make their next move.

“By the way you should maybe start getting ready and leave latest tomorrow, we don’t want Mugen to be faster than you! They are unpredictable, so who knows when they will strike again.”

With that Ueda walked out the room, leaving a heavy silence behind.

“You know that he isn’t angry at you, stop looking that down,” Kentaro tried to brighten up the mood, but it wasn’t working at all.

“Fuma, are you really sure you can go on such a trip now?” Nikaido tried to reason with them again, but Fuma just nodded with a determined look.

“All good, there is nothing to worry about. As if I die now after Taiga made sure that I wouldn’t.”

That actually made the heavy atmosphere finally dissolve slowly and Kentaro cracked a smile, because knowing that Fuma wasn’t blaming Taiga for anything that happened was extremely important to him.

“Please take care and make sure to say good-bye before you leave tomorrow or I’ll get really pissed!” On Kentaro’s threatening words everyone finally escaped a chuckle and Fuma stepped forward and ruffled through his hair.

“No worry, we are not running away, so we will definitely let all of you know before we leave and we make sure that Shintaro will report to you as soon as he is back.”

“Which reminds me, are you okay on your own when you come back?” Nikaido asked Shintaro who nodded.

“I make sure to enter the area over the Exposers territory to not get into trouble,” Shintaro said and with that they all seemed to be ready to prepare for their leave.

“Does Sou already know that you are bringing him and his family out of Tokyo?” Kentaro asked as they were already slowly walking towards the door.

“Yes we told him at the hideout already,” Fuma replied.

“He is grateful for our help, but he also feels like he is a burden to us, so he tried to convince us to stay here instead and let them leave on their own,” Kento added.

“As if anyone of us would do that,” Kentaro said while shaking his head. “He is a strong boy and I can imagine that he wants to help more, but it is really the best when he gets out of the Underground as soon as possible. This is no place for him and he has a family to return to.”

It wasn’t intentionally that Kentaro seemed suddenly down on his own words, but Nikaido put his hand on his shoulder right away. “You have a family as well.”

“I know,” Kentaro replied with a brief smile. “And again we have to protect it.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh come on guys, I was gone for maybe twenty minutes,” Abe complained as he opened the door to Watanabe and Miyadate’s room after he had left just a few minutes ago to make some food for Watanabe and bring it to his room, because he was still not allowed to move around a lot.

“Your own fault if you don’t knock,” Watanabe teased his friend, but made sure that Miyadate would get off him so that Abe would enter the room instead of getting out again. It wasn’t like they were taking it too far for someone to see, but the lack of body contact between them over the last days had turned a harmless small kiss into a little bit too much.

“Sorry, you know we had to hold back a lot over the last week,” Miyadate apologized with a brief smile before he sat down on one of the chairs next to his bed.

“Good for both of you that Watanabe’s injuries are not holding you back any longer from whatever you want to do as long as you are careful with his arm. But whatever you do, do it behind locked doors, is that clear?”

“Yes mum,” Watanabe replied teasing on which Abe hit him on the back of his head as he put the tray down next to him on the bed.

“Will his arm be completely okay in the end?” Miyadate asked as Abe helped Watanbe sit up on the bed. His injured arm was completely put still from the shoulder downwards with a tight tape and Abe looked at it worryingly.

“Miyata said that if he doesn’t injure it again until the bone is completely healed it should be okay, but the problem is the shoulder joint. It got damaged pretty badly and until it is healed again we can’t say for sure if you will be able to move it without problems.”

Instead of getting worried through his friend’s comment Watanabe started eating. It was his body after all and he was able to tell even without any doctor that it was a quite heavy injury.

“Don’t look so gloomy, it’s not like I am going to die,” Watanabe said as he hit Abe against the shoulder on which the latter scolded his friend, but got a laughter from Miyadate as a reply.

“Guess for now we are all grounded, so we should try and rest as good as possible. But I still can’t believe that Shintaro had agreed on bringing Sou and his family to Chiba,” Miyadate said with a worried look. In the afternoon of the following day after they had had the talk about leaving, Fuma and Kento had told everyone and they had gathered to bid them good-bye for now. Kentaro hadn’t looked happy at all about sending off their friends once more and at such a dangerous time, but no one could blame them for leaving.

“I really hope Shintaro will be okay on his way back. Sure now he can fight again, but he is still not completely healed,” Abe let out worried and the others nodded.

“And what do we do when you are healed?” Miyadate asked out of a sudden, making Watanabe put back the slice of bread he had just took from the tray. With a sigh he leant back against the headboard and Abe eyed him curiously.

“We were searching for Saku for such a long time and it feels so wrong that we have finally been able find him and had to leave him behind again,” Watanabe started on which everyone’s look darkened. “But there is also Taiga and I want to get him out of there as much as I want Saku back.”

“Which means we are joining their fight,” Miyadate concluded on which Watanabe formed a confident smile.

“At first I didn’t know what to think of all the stuff Kentaro and the others said about the Underground, but after everything that happened at the tournament I can totally understand their feeling.”

“What do you mean?” Abe asked curiously on which Watanabe looked at him and Miyadate with a lopsided smile.

“They are their family! And I’ve the feeling if we want to we can be part of that family as well. So what do you say?”

Miyadate smiled first and Abe also nodded with a bright smile right away.

“Then I guess we have to recover fast to finally get our family back together!”

***

The whole week had passed tormenting slow for Taiga even though he was mostly asleep. Each time he woke up he found someone else in the room. Just at night it was always Domoto taking care of him, but except for asking how he felt and making sure that he took his medicine which Sakurai had ordered him to take so that the wound wouldn’t get infected there was not much other interaction taking place.

Sakurai and also Yara and Takizawa had taken a look at him from time to time which had made clear that the Avernus members were all staying at the same hideout for now. Who hadn’t shown up until now was Reo, which worried him a lot, because he didn’t actually want to ask anyone about his condition, because he knew that Domoto would just get angry again if he talked too much about Reo. But with the younger one not showing up there was also no one who would send Saku to him and by now he was more or less awake the whole day, at least since the day before, but he wasn’t allowed to stand up at all, which made things like going to the toilet an extremely embarrassing act, but at least this time it wasn’t meant as one as Domoto’s humiliating games, so he could still somehow deal with asking someone for help.

But what he couldn’t deal with anymore was the silence, after all he had no one around he could freely talk to anymore. The Avernus leaders were out of question anyway and Taiga felt still too weak to even try and somehow get information out of them what they were planning from now on. There had been a few of the boys coming as well, Ren and Hagiya had shown up a few times, but they didn’t even really try to have a conversation with Taiga. There had also been a few people he didn’t know, but Juri and Kochi hadn’t even shown up once over the whole week. Not that it was surprising after the first conversation he had with Juri.

It was early in the morning and Domoto had left for a meeting just a few minutes ago, but as expected the door opened quite soon to reveal the next person taking a look at him.

“Oh, that’s a surprise,” Taiga let out neutral as Aran stepped inside the room and raised an eyebrow at his statement.

“A good or a bad one? Because if you start yelling at me as at Juri I am leaving right away, I am not in the mood for arguments, I had enough with Reo over the last days.”

“Reo? How is he? Are his injuries fine again?”

“Woah, wait, calm down!” Aran said soothing as Taiga was ready to jump up on the mention of Reo’s name and without knowing why Aran was one of the few people he felt like he could talk to, even though he had of course not forgotten that he and Hagiya had been also spies in their club and there was still a lot of the story he didn’t know until now.

Aran moved over to the chair next to the bed to make sure that Taiga wouldn’t jump up, because after all he would have to take the blame if the boy got hurt and he didn’t seem like he could take any punishment at the moment.

“Are your injuries okay already?”

The boy seemed a little bit startled when the topic switched to him out of a sudden, but with him coming closer Taiga realized that his bruises weren’t gone completely yet and that he had definitely been told to rest until now as well, so that he hadn’t been able to take a look at Taiga for the last week.

“Yeah, all good. My injuries weren’t that bad anyway. And before you jump at me, yes Reo is fine,” Aran added and on that Taiga relaxed a little bit again. He was allowed to sit on the bed instead of just lying around, but he was still told to rest against the pillows in a half lying position for most of the time. So for now he tried not to cause the boy any trouble with moving too much and causing himself pain. He didn’t need as many painkillers as in the beginning anymore, which was why he was finally awake more of the time, but after a few hours it always got too much for him.

“By the way, Domoto told me you still didn’t take your medicine,” Aran said and looked questioning towards the table next to the bed.

“It’s the red capsule,” Taiga said. “It was actually another type until yesterday, but Sakurai said I don’t need such a strong antibiotic anymore and with the new one I’d feel more awake as well, except for the times I need to take the painkillers.”

“So you just need the capsule for now?”

“Yes, the pain is fine at the moment,” Taiga replied as Aran handed him the medicine and the glass of water.

“You can call yourself lucky that you are still alive,” Aran said as he took the glass back.

“Guess with a bullet in your chest it is just a question of luck,” Taiga replied almost teasing, but Aran didn’t seem to get easily into a more relaxed mood. “I already heard from Sakurai that the bullet got stuck in one of my ribs and even though it had gone through half of it neither my lungs nor my heart have taken any damage.”

“Yes, by millimeters. It’s a miracle that you didn’t die because of your stupid move.”

“Hey, you weren’t even there.”

“But I heard from the others what happened.”

“Then you should understand why I did it. Would you let someone kill your friend right in front of your eyes?”

Taiga’s tone had changed a little bit into snappy now, but Aran didn’t seem to mind. He dropped with his back against the chair with a shadow passing over his face all of a sudden.

“By the way, why were you sent to my fight club when Juri and Kochi were already there?”

The confusion showing on the boy’s face about the question was making him look even younger and Taiga had to try hard not to smile, because he couldn’t deny that the boy looked anything but scary, at least not now that he wasn’t fighting. Most of them had a complete different aura around them when they were in the ring and it was the same with this boy. The way he was sitting here and talking to Taiga, no one would even believe that he could harm someone.

“It was part of the plan from the beginning. We didn’t know each other from before, because I entered Avernus when those two were already on their mission, but they knew Hagiya already, so when we came to the club they knew that Avernus was ready to move.”

“So you had this planned for years already? Three groups trying to take control of the Underground through destroying fight clubs?”

“You really think I will answer that question?” Aran asked with a disbelieving look, but Taiga just shrugged his shoulders.

“You know, I am a prisoner here so I doubt I will have the chance to walk around spilling secrets.”

“One of so many…” Aran let out in a low voice on which Taiga tilted his head curiously, but the boy looked away as if he had said something he shouldn’t. Instead of giving Taiga the chance of bombarding him with questions he took a deep breath and looked up at him again.

“So for starters, no this whole network didn’t exist right from the beginning, but because I entered when Avernus already existed I also just know stories.”

“But you know definitely more than me, because Domoto isn’t really talkative at least not when it comes to those topics,” Taiga let out with a look that could almost be called disgusted.

“I know about Reo and what he is to Domoto, but I guess you know that as well,” Aran switched directly to that topic as he realized what Taiga meant.

“To be honest I don’t know that much about Reo. I’ve seen how Domoto is treating him, but we actually never spoke about his past.”

Taiga felt confused on his own words, but just now he had realized that they had not even once talked about Reo, even though he had enough problems to carry as well. It made Taiga feel extremely stupid out of a sudden, because the boy had supported him so much and he still felt like he was a stranger to him.

“Reo was actually part of Mugen quite from the beginning,” Aran started and woke Taiga up from his absentminded state. “The alliance between Mugen and the other two groups was formed after the Titanium Triangle had started ruling over the Underground. A lot of troops felt like challenging their new so called leaders, but dozens have failed and so most of the troops fell silent after a while and the Underground turned quiet. But Domoto seemed to have wanted to be part of the Triangle from the very beginning, but his troop wasn’t strong enough at that time and they weren’t chosen. Through that he searched for other troops to make an alliance and take over the Underground. But before he actually started with his plan of attacking fight clubs to gather new members he made the Storm Warriors and Dancing Rascals search for new members through another method.”

“Which was?” Taiga asked curiously as Aran stopped for a moment just to make sure that Taiga was not too exhausted and could still follow him.

“They started gathering orphans, promising them a new future and turning them into their most loyal warriors. Reo was one of those orphans.”

It didn’t surprise Taiga as much as he thought it would, because it was Domoto after all and that man had shown so many times already that he was capable of the weirdest decisions and plans.

“But Reo ended up with Mugen, right?”

“Juri, Yugo, Ren and Hagiya were also part of those who had entered at that time, but while most of the boys were following the troops lead without any complains, because they were actually happy about not having to die on the streets, Reo and his friend were different.”

“His friend?”

Aran shrugged his shoulders before he continued. “I’ve just heard that Reo had entered with another friend of his, but I don’t know any details myself. All I know is that Reo wanted out again, don’t ask me about the reasons though. In the end he made a huge ruckus at the Storm Warriors where he had been first and Domoto was called to decide what to do. He had been already in Chiba at that time, his first fight club attacks already over. But since he had come back with his “new members” to Tokyo for some time he also took a look at the boys and that was when he decided to take Reo and his friend with him.”

There were so many things Taiga hadn’t heard about until now that it slowly gave him a headache, but he didn’t want the boy to stop talking, after all he could use every single information he could get about Avernus.

“Unfortunately I’ve no clue what happened after that. The first time I saw Reo was when Domoto came back to Tokyo in between and met with Avernus. It was about maybe one and a half years ago and the time when I entered.”

“You entered on your own?” Taiga asked perplex, because it didn’t seem like they were going for the orphan strategy anymore after they had started forcing strong members to enter instead of brainwashing children. After all they were about to reach the finishing line of their plan. They didn’t have the time anymore to recruit children to make warriors out of them.

“That’s a different story though,” Aran said firmly before he continued and Taiga felt that he had overstepped a line and he definitely didn’t want to make the boy angry. “Anyways, Reo was his perfect assassin at that time already. I’ve no clue what happened to him over the time or where his friend had disappeared to, but since then he had worn a perfect mask...until you came.”

It took Taiga a felt eternity to even get what he had said and when he realized that Aran had stopped talking and was looking at him instead he finally reacted.

“Yeah, ehm that is, I don’t know...It’s not like he hasn’t hurt me until now. He is perfectly following Domoto’s orders,” Taiga added, suddenly feeling the need of making Aran believe that there is nothing wrong with Reo, because it could mean a lot of trouble for the boy after all if others would also start telling Domoto that something was going on between the two of them.

“I’ve seen him following Domoto’s orders. Trust me what he is doing at the moment is pretending to do so.”

“What do you mean?”

“That if you keep going like this you might end up on a very dangerous path for both of you.”

“What do you-”

When the door opened without even someone knocking, Taiga shut up right away and Aran tensed, looking up to the person entering and as it was no other than Domoto who had entered they both exchanged a quick look, but luckily it didn’t seem like Aran wanted to spill anything about what they had just talked about, which made him relax.

Aran stood up right away and bowed towards Domoto who gave him a warm smile before he walked over to the desk with some papers in his hands.

“Thank you Aran. The meeting is over, so you can go,” Domoto announced as he sat at the desk and Aran just nodded and gave Taiga one last look before he left the room in silence. The talk between them had felt quite weird to Taiga, because somehow it seemed like Aran wasn’t normally the talkative type, at least not inside the troop. Had it maybe been an attempt to say thank you for the time Taiga had made sure that he and Hagiya wouldn’t get punished? Whatever it was it felt good to have someone else he could talk to, even though he still needed to be careful about what he was talking about to Aran. His full trust was something just Sakuma and Reo had achieved until now inside Avernus and he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to add someone else. But at least some small talk from time to time was definitely something he could get used to.

“How are you feeling today?”

Exactly because of this type of talk he appreciated small talk with the other boys! Trying hard not to roll his eyes he looked over to Domoto who wasn’t even looking at him, but was sorting the papers he had just brought with him into the drawers of the desk.

“How’d you feel after someone shot you in the chest?”

“Oh, so snappy today? Did something happen I should know about?” Domoto asked his look immediately on the door.

“Aran has nothing to do with my mood. But maybe one week lying in bed has,” Taiga hissed at him, without even knowing why he was so aggressive all of a sudden. Sure he was angry at Domoto even more now that he had heard more about Reo’s past, but was that enough to make him snap out of a sudden? He felt like he didn’t even want to talk the way he did, but he couldn’t calm down.

“No worry, I believe you. Sakurai told me that the new medicine could make your mood drop at the beginning until you get used to them.”

Domoto’s answer was so calm and neutral it made Taiga even angrier, but hearing the reason he tried hard to stay calm. So now he was freaking out because of some stupid capsules? Great, who knew what other effect they could have? Losing control that easily just meant that he had to try and keep quiet as much as possible or who knew what he would say by accident if he didn’t watch out.

“You want to stand up?”

Instead of answering, Taiga just raised an eyebrow on the leader’s sudden question. With a brief smile Domoto got up from the desk and stood next to the bed, holding out his hand towards Taiga.

“Sakurai said-”

“I just talked to him at the meeting and he said at least one or two times a day you can stand up now, but just for a few minutes and as soon as you feel bad you have to immediately lie down again. So how about we try and see if you can make it to the bathroom on your own?”

That was actually an offer he couldn’t say no to, because it had made him feel uncomfortable enough over the last week to not be able to go. So without any complains he tossed the sheets to the side and put his legs to the ground, but alone that movement made him put his hand up to his chest with a groan.

“Take it slow. Don’t move too fast or your blood pressure will rise and it will hurt even more.”

Again Taiga felt angry, because he just couldn’t take Domoto’s stupid tries to sound so comforting anymore. After all he had been the one who had shot him! Sure he had tried to shoot Myuto, but with Taiga already being that protective of everyone else on that day he could have seen the outcome coming. Not wanting to start a fight now though he closed his eyes for a moment and gave his body time to adjust and when he was ready to stand up he opened his eyes again and moved slowly. Even though he didn’t want to get help form Domoto it didn’t take long for him until he had to reach out for the hand that was still stretched out towards him and Domoto moved his other hand under Taiga’s arm right away to stabilize him as he seemed kind of unsteady on his feet.

It took him some time to make his first steady steps, but he actually succeeded in making it to the bathroom and back, even though not on his own, but in a few days he might be able to finally walk around on his own which was already a great relief to him.

“You should take another painkiller,” Domoto said, holding the medicine and the glass of water out to him without even waiting for an answer. So it wasn’t a question, but an order. Not that he would refuse at this point, because he felt like he had run a marathon and that after just a few steps and his chest was burning up, so he took the medicine without any complains, even though he knew that it meant he would be asleep for most of the day again.

“Such a good boy.”

This time Domoto had unfortunately said it after Taiga had swallowed, otherwise he would have spit the water into his face once more, as he had done it in Gunma before. The smile Domoto formed as he put the glass back and walked towards the desk again seemed like he had realized Taiga’s anger, but of course it was to his own pleasure to see the boy getting angry. As twisted as it was he seemed to like it a lot when Taiga was getting pissed at him or refused an order.

“Take a good rest,” Domoto said in a way too sweet sounding voice as he watched Taiga from the desk with his chin resting on his palm as he rested with one elbow on the desk.

Taiga just let out an annoyed growl before he pulled the covers up and turned to the side so that he didn’t feel that exposed anymore. He didn’t like that desk after all, it turned this room into Domoto’s private theater with Taiga being the only actor on stage and him being the only guest watching the play and he still couldn’t tell if this play would have a tragic ending or not.


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you mean Tegoshi left like this?” Nakai asked almost furious as he realized at their next meeting that he wasn’t there and Ueda had explained to him what was going on.

“It’s not like he left the club for good, it’s just that he needed some space and who could actually blame him?” Nikaido interfered and tried to calm the situation down as good as possible.

Nakai let out a sigh and rubbed his temples with an annoyed groan. “Whatever, fine. He is an adult, he knows what danger he is putting himself in like that.”

“But shouldn’t we actually be safe walking around, at least when it comes to Avernus?” Abe asked carefully and Miyadate nodded. While Watanabe was the last one who was still not allowed to walk around much or more like not to use his arm much, Tegoshi had decided that he was well enough to get up and Miyata couldn’t stop him even after a long discussion.

“That’s the theory part, but who knows what stupid loophole they’ll find to attack us anyway,” Ueda let out doubting and anyone shared the same worries after all, so they all had to be careful.

“So we just leave him running around and wait until he comes back or...not comes back?” Kentaro added worried, but on the way everyone looked at Nakai and the latter just shrugged his shoulders it was clear that this was obviously the only solution.

“For now there is nothing else we can do, but if you see him somewhere try and convince him to come back. He is always welcome here,” Nakai told them before he left. Time was passing way too slow and the Underground had fallen silent after the tournament, just waiting for the war to start. But while Avernus was definitely planning something they couldn't just wait and see. Even if their club was safe they made sure to make a plan together with the other fight clubs and the Titanium Triangle.

“So we have another day of sitting around and doing nothing,” Miyadate said annoyed as everyone remained in the room, not knowing what exactly to do.

“You can join the meetings, I bet they could always use some advice from people which have more information about Avernus,” Nikaido suggested.

“But we only know about Mugen and let's say the information they burned down our club is not worth so much, is it?”

Even though it wasn't actually a funny topic the way Miyadate had said it made them smile.

“I'll take a look at Watanabe for now,” Abe excused himself and Miyadate joined him.

“And you two?” Ueda asked with a weird hoping look.

“Ehm, nothing special, but with the way you are looking at us I might reconsider and find something to excuse ourselves,” Kentaro said with a raised eyebrow on which Ueda smirked at them.

“Too late, now I know you are free,” he added as he moved away from them for a moment.

“Free for what?” Nikaido asked evenly worried as Kentaro, but then Ueda turned back to them and when he threw something at them all questions were answered.

Kentaro smiled at the sight of his training gloves and Ueda moved passed them and jumped on the platform of the ring.

“Are you two coming? I'm not allowed to fight, but that doesn't mean I can't yell at you.”

“Idiot,” Nikaido let out while shaking his head, but then Kentaro passed him and hit him with one of the gloves against the stomach before he jumped up to the ring as well and entered it when Ueda held the ropes open for him.

“Kentaro, are you-”

“Yes Nikaido, I'm sure that I can fight. It's just training, right? We don't have to overdo it.”

“And you don't want to take this chance away from me, I've missed this a lot!” Ueda added.

“Yeah, missed it to yell at us. Such a pleasure that we can be your first victims to get back into your trainer position.”

“You are welcome and now move your ass up here.”

While Kentaro had to suppress a chuckle while he got his gloves on, Nikaido shook his head, but finally followed in the ring as well.

When they were all prepared and in the middle of the ring they halted for a moment.

“Feels kind of unrealistic,” Kentaro let out.

“Somehow nostalgic, considering how much shit we all had gone through over the past months,” Ueda added, but instead of them changing into a gloomy mood they all had to smile at each other.

“Just a bit longer and we are all back together and you can keep yelling at all of us,” Nikaido said before he suddenly stepped back into a defense position, his look suddenly switching into his serious fighting mood expression on which Kentaro let out a chuckle before he followed his example.

“Don't overdo it after all it's just training. But don't mess around or I'll get angry,” Ueda said serious while the two others were not taking their eyes of each other.

“Get ready.”

Just an innocent training, still so many emotions, memories and hopes connected to it.

They would protect this place and the people connected to it no matter what.

“Fight!”

***

“So what brings you to me at such a critical moment?” Kamenashi asked when his men told him that he had a visitor and to his surprise it was Tegoshi.

It was clear right away that nothing had happened in the fight club, because it was some weird kind of determination showing in his eyes. Kamenashi leant back on his chair and crossed his legs, waiting for the other one to speak.

“I have a request,” Tegoshi replied in a cold way.

“Which would be?”

“Let me join your troop when you attack Avernus.”

“Oh? And what makes you so sure that we will attack them?”

“As if you are just sitting here and making the same mistake as Ryosuke,” Tegoshi replied slightly annoyed by Kamenashi’s question.

“Ryosuke also tried to attack them and now he is dead,” Kamenashi replied without hesitation.

“He was careless and waited too long.”

“We are waiting for over a week already and no one attacked us yet.”

“So it’s about time to do something, don’t you think?”

Tegoshi’s impatient tone made Kamenashi let out a sigh and he finally stood up, approaching the other one with his hands on his back and stopped in front of him with a scanning look.

“Tegoshi, why don’t you just ask directly?”

Tegoshi opened his mouth, but then he decided against an answer and looked away guilty, biting his lip. Of course Kamenashi would see through his attitude right away.

“I am not judging you for still seeking revenge and I can totally understand that you don’t want to drag your friends into your personal problems even more, but even if you ask us for help I can’t promise you a frontal attack on such a dangerous troop. After all it would put Taiga in danger as well-”

“I don’t want him to get hurt!” Tegoshi interrupted him almost yelling at the leader, but he needed to make clear that his need for revenge was not clouding his mind enough to risk his friends’ lives, that was after all why he left the fight club and came to the Triangle, because they had a reason to fight and so he could join them without causing trouble.

“Then let me make you an offer,” Kamenashi said on which Tegoshi looked at him hoping. “I promise you that you can join us if we attack Avernus, but we won’t move before Ueda and the others don’t come up with a plan to get Taiga out at the same time.”

Tegoshi’s determination had leveled up through that statement and he nodded. The tournament had brought him close to his enemies again, his only goal left for now! He didn’t care for anything else anymore and he wouldn’t be able to move on before making them pay. No sacrifice was too big and he would stop at nothing to take his revenge!

***

“Did he hit you?”

“As if he let him come even that close, I bet he threw something at him.”

“Or if he can get up steady enough already he slammed the door in his face,” Ren added laughing on Hagiya’s and Reo’s comments when Juri came back into Reo’s room after he had tried to talk to Taiga again, but just the fact that he came back after barely minutes showed them that he had failed.

“Do I look like I got a door in the face?” Juri asked annoyed as he dropped on the end of Reo’s bed crossed legged and pouted while Reo was leaning at the headboard with his back. Hagiya was sitting on one side of the bed, while Kochi who had been silent like always, was sitting on the other side on a chair. Ren had crawled on the bed as well at some point, complaining that the chair was too uncomfortable and after all the bed was spacious enough for them all.

“You really want an answer on that?” Ren asked teasing on which Juri stretched out one leg to kick the boy, but Ren just pulled his legs up and chuckled.

“What did you expect? You didn’t even have something to tell him or do you?” Hagiya asked and that question wasn’t actually as innocent as it sounded and Kochi shot the boy a dangerous look as Hagiya seemed to not just address Juri, but also him.

“Okay, guys if you want to fight do it outside my room,” Reo interfered on which Kochi just rolled his eyes and leant back on his chair with crossed arms to his chest.

“By the way, where is Aran?”

“Don’t ask me, he is avoiding me as much as he can,” Hagiya replied while shrugging his shoulders.

“Not surprised…” Juri whispered, but of course the other one had heard him.

“I saw him leaving earlier, but I have no clue where he went. He took a look at Taiga today again and right after that he left,” Ren replied as he realized that they would seriously soon start a fight if they wouldn’t find a good topic to talk about.

For a moment silent took over after that statement before Hagiya stood up and aimed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Reo asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Someone has to make sure that Taiga takes his medicine now that Juri failed and you are still not allowed to visit him, so I will take care of that.”

With that Hagiya just left the room, but the looks the boys shared after that made clear that no one actually believed his excuse. But it was Hagiya so he would make sure that he was really taking care of Taiga first before he was definitely trying to find out where Aran had gone off to.

“Lately he has gotten closer to your position,” Kochi said and it confused Reo for a moment before he realized what he meant and he lowered his eyes to the mattress.

“By the way, why are you not allowed seeing Taiga? It’s been over two weeks now and you are walking around the whole time without problems since a few days,” Juri asked curious, tilting his head, but Reo avoided to look at him.

“Guess instead of doubting us, Hagiya should have a talk with you,” Kochi let out before he also got up and no one stopped him when he left the room without another word.

“Okay what did that mean?” Juri asked on which Ren shook his head.

“Nothing,” Reo replied slightly annoyed on which Ren and Juri exchanged a brief look, but the younger one just shrugged his shoulders before he hit his elbow lightly against Reo’s side.

“Hey, we are here for you to talk, you know that, right? Sure, you should be careful what you say in front of Hagiya and Kochi, but we are not going to sell you out to gain a higher position or anything,” Ren said encouraging and Reo nodded, but even if he was told something like that there was no way he would easily betray that one secret which could bring him and Taiga into even more trouble. It was bad enough that they got punished by Domoto already, but ordering that Reo wasn’t allowed to get close to Taiga for now made clear that he was definitely going to punish them even worse if they should get carried away.

“Thank you, but it’s really nothing.”

“Okay if you say so,” Juri said with a light smile before he also got up. “Maybe we should let you sleep, it’s late already after all and you are still not completely fine even though you are able to walk around again.”

Reo just nodded and Ren also got up on that, leaving the room together with Juri. When Reo was left alone he let out a sigh and crawled under the sheets. Yes he was tired, but not because of his injuries, but because of the stress which wouldn’t let him sleep at night. Why couldn’t he just put his mask on again? Why had it become so hard to be indifferent to anything that happened around him? For so long he had been perfect in it. But while the disappearance of one person had made him fall into that state, maybe the appearance of a new person had broken that mask finally? Soon he would find out anyways, after all there was no way he could just stay away from Taiga as he was told to and alone the fact that he accepted how he suddenly started to be rebellious again made something rampage inside of him and it wasn’t a bad feeling.

***

Time was passing way too slow and Kentaro felt even more restless with every passing day. Kamenashi and Kitayama had still not decided how to act now that Avernus was staying in the shadows, but Kamenashi had at least informed them that Tegoshi was with them. It was clear that Tegoshi didn’t want them to know, but that was one selfish request Kamenashi wasn’t able to oblige and he had ended up telling Nakai and he had made sure that everyone would know so they wouldn’t worry for their friend.

Slowly everyone started feeling better and with that the situation got complicated, because no one could sit still for long anymore and without knowing how he had ended up there Kentaro was standing outside their club. With the next breath he let out he was reminded how cold it was outside at night and he closed his jacket tighter around his upper body and shook his head.

“What am I even doing?”

But even though he let out that question, realizing how stupid he was he made a few steps away from the building.

“So what are you doing?” When a hand landed on his shoulder the moment the question was posted by a person behind him, Kentaro jolted and turned around with wide eyes on which the other person let out a chuckle.

“Woah, calm down. You are still right in front of the club, who did you expect?”

When Kentaro realized that it was Miyadate standing behind him he relaxed again and turned towards the latter with an apologizing look.

“Sorry, I am just a little bit jumpy I guess.”

“And in that state you wanted to go out alone? Don’t you think that is a stupid idea or do you feel safe now that Domoto gave us a promise which is worth nothing coming from a person like him?”

Miyadate had a point there and Kentaro couldn’t deny that yes he was stupid enough to feel safe somehow, but the reason he wanted to go alone was not because he felt safe, but because he felt like no one could actually go with him without judging him.

“I just...needed some fresh air,” Kentaro lied.

“Right, and the air is fresher at whatever place you just wanted to head to?” Miyadate replied, not believing a single word of course and who would? But there was nothing judging in his tone and he stepped next to the boy and clapped him on the shoulder. “You know I could need some fresh air as well.”

First Kentaro just blinked at him, but when Miyadate gave him a lopsided smile before he walked away from the building Kentaro formed a thankful smile and followed him.


	4. Chapter 4

“Are you not gonna ask?” Kentaro asked after Miyadate had just followed him around without wondering at all where they were heading to.

“If you wanted to tell me you would have done so, right?”

Kentaro had to smile on the way Miyadate handled his egoism way better than all his friends could, okay maybe Taiga could, but unfortunately he couldn’t talk to him and that when he needed exactly a person like him. So maybe it was good to have Miyadate with him after all? He didn’t know of all the details of course, but he had joined them when the whole mess with Hagiya and Aran reached its peak.

After a few minutes they spent in silence again Kentaro finally stopped and Miyadate scanned their surroundings, but could of course not identify anything. It was none of the places he had seen until now, but alone through the dark environment, and he wasn’t talking about the missing daylight now that it was dark outside, he could tell that it was an Underground place.

“This is the hideout of the gang I was with a few years ago before everything turned upside down and I ended up in the North Tokyo Fight Club,” Kentaro explained while taking a look around the now abandoned factory like building.

“Seems like it was a good idea to leave, looks like they didn’t just walk out here without a fight,” Miyadate concluded after seeing how destroyed the building was and it was obviously not through the war.

Kentaro hesitated in front of the broken metal door, but then Miyadate’s hand was on his shoulder. With a faint smile he looked at him before he nodded.

“You know, sometimes the places that hurt us most are where we have to return to, to finally be able to keep moving.”

Kentaro couldn’t deny that he was right, after all he had made the decision to come here to finally end this chapter, but could he do so without having a talk with Aran? Could he just abandon him and see him as the enemy without knowing of the reason behind his choice?

With a deep breath Kentaro stepped inside and a heavy silence and cold atmosphere greeted him inside. The metal stairs which went through the building up to an open second floor with a metal floor were completely rusty, some parts already falling off and nothing actually felt familiar anymore, not that he wanted it to feel nostalgic in any way. The only good memory he had of this place was Aran after all.

“He must have been really precious to you,” Miyadate said while he walked through the room, taking a look at the few boxes, tables and other trash that was left in the building.

“He still is,” Kentaro let out without thinking and his eyes widened as he realized how it must have sounded and he looked up at Miyadate who just chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I am not the type to jump to conclusions, but after everything that happened between you and Aran and how you even risked your current happiness to be able to be together with him at least once, you have to ask yourself the question exactly how precious he still is to you.”

“I learned through that mistake, I won’t ever let it happen again.”

“That is not the right answer and you know that,” Miyadate replied in a calm voice and he sat down on the edge of a desk while Kentaro walked towards the other side of the room, resting his back against one of the huge wooden boxes which were filling one side of the factory room.

“It’s not like I can just say I don’t feel anything for him anymore. It just doesn’t work like that.”

“Right and the fact that you accept that is already the step towards the right direction. I’ve seen you and Nikaido long enough now to know that he is forgiving you a lot and you know why he does it? Because he loves you more than anyone else and he trusts you, which means you have to accept that things are complicated at the moment, but also that you are able to handle things and not run away.”

Which was exactly what he was about to do again or more like doing right now. After all he was running away to a place like this instead of sharing his worries with Nikaido and again the latter was definitely aware of his struggles, but let him be. Knowing how much Nikaido cared for him and how egoistic he behaved over the last weeks made him feel like the worst person existing.

“I feel like I am repeating the same mistake over and over again. I just...I don’t know what I feel myself.”

“But you know what you feel for Nikaido, don’t you?”

Kentaro tilted his head with a confused expression, because hadn’t he just said he was confused about his own feelings? On his expression Miyadate chuckled again.

“Okay let me rephrase this. You love Nikaido, don’t you?”

“Yes of course I do!”

A surprised expression suddenly took over Kentaro’s face as that answer came without even thinking about it.

“That’s all he needs to know for now and everything you have to show him. If you still love Aran or if you just need to clear things out is something that won’t affect your feelings right now.”

“But what if my feelings change when I finally get to talk things through?”

It scared him a lot, the possibility of what could change if he got to talk to Aran about everything that happened.

“Then it is time for you to choose.”

That wasn’t exactly what Kentaro wanted to hear, but he was aware of the fact that there was no other way.

“How about I spare you the trouble of choosing?”

Miyadate jumped up before Kentaro could even turn around, but of course the other one was faster as he had just appeared next to the box Kentaro was leaning at. Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind and as one hand landed over his mouth and pulled him back he wanted to struggle. He grabbed the other one’s wrist and tried to pull his hand away, but then he felt the cold metal of a knife being pressed against his neck.

“I wouldn’t move if I was you,” Hagiya, who had just appeared out of nowhere, warned him. Kentaro had already reached out for the latter’s other arm as well, but on his warning he halted, still keeping a grip on the other one, but didn’t try to struggle.

“We are North Tokyo Fight Club members you are not allowed to hurt us!” Miyadate interrupted him on which Hagiya looked up at him with an annoyed look.

“Oh and who will tell anyone that it was me who got rid of you?”

Miyadate growled at him on that statement, but Hagiya just chuckled.

“I would let you live, but you’d blow my cover, so I guess I’ve to get rid of both of you.”

“Why would you even want to get rid of anyone of the fight club members? You are clearly acting against orders,” Miyadate tried to reason with him again, but when he dared to make a step forward Hagiya pressed the knife against Kentaro’s skin with more force and the boy let out a muffled sound against his hand.

“I just want to get rid of him, because he is clearly a distraction for Aran and with us finally preparing for our final move it’s too dangerous to let this go on like this.”

Hagiya was obvious not open for any reasoning, because without a warning he moved his hand and if Kentaro hadn’t reacted immediately and pulled his arm away from his skin Hagiya would have cut his throat. He still succeeded in cutting Kentaro, but the wound wasn’t deep enough to cause him so much pain that he couldn’t fight anymore.

“Stop struggling!” Hagiya yelled at him, but now Kentaro had no reason to do so anymore, because even if he stopped struggling he would die, so he finally fought back and tried to get the knife under control for now while grabbing Hagiya’s wrist with both hands.

Miyadate dashed forward as well and reached them in time as Hagiya kicked Kentaro to the ground and wanted to stab him again.

To make sure that he wouldn’t get in reach of the knife Miyadate grabbed the other one at the back of his shirt and pulled him away from Kentaro, before tossing him to the ground.

“Are you okay?” He asked Kentaro who was getting up right away.

“All good, just a small cut, nothing to worry about.”

Kentaro moved his hand over his neck with a hiss, but treating it had to wait for later, because Hagiya was coming at them again.

Miyadate blocked his way, but had to jump back as the other one lunged out with the knife.

“Stop this shit already,” Miyadate shouted at him before he tackled him to the ground, regardless the high chances that he would get stabbed. Kentaro reacted immediately and tried to get the knife from Hagiya, but the boy was faster and sank it into Miyadate’s shoulder. The boy hissed and was kicked away the next moment. Hagiya jumped up right away and even though Kentaro tried to get away he wasn’t fast enough and the boy grabbed him by the hair, pulling him closer. At the same time he wanted to strike with the knife into his other one’s body and unfortunately the movement was too fast to stop it without any damage. Kentaro had been fast enough to get his arms up, but the knife had buried in his lower arm.

“Can’t you just die already?” Hagiya shouted outraged as he dragged the boy to the ground and pulled the knife out again, making Kentaro scream out.

Miyadate shouted at him to stop as he lunged out again, but he wasn’t fast enough to reach them and Kentaro’s chances to be able to stop the attack somehow with his arms again was extremely small.

“If you kill him I make sure that you are the next dead one.”

Luckily Hagiya froze on the sudden verbal interference, because the other person stood at the entrance of the room, way too far away to be able to interfere directly.

Kentaro needed a moment to realize that Hagiya had stopped his attack and was facing the other person instead, but he was still remaining on top of him which showed that another attack could still follow. Slowly he dared to look over to the door, but he froze when he realized who had just stepped inside.

“Aran…”

The one in question didn’t look at Kentaro instead he kept staring at Hagiya who gave him a death glare.

“And here we have exactly the reason why he should die. If you are taking their side you are a traitor!”

“And if you act against orders you are not better.”

The tension between them was cutting through the air and neither Kentaro nor Miyadate dared to say anything, after all the situation could escalate again with any wrong word.

“If you think of me as a traitor then come after me and not after him,” Aran let out after a moment of silence and to everyone’s surprise Hagiya finally stood up on that comment.

Kentaro dropped with his head against the cold ground and let out a shaky breath as his body finally relaxed, but realized the growing pain at the same moment.

“Kentaro, are you okay?” Miyadate asked as he crawled over to him, still holding his shoulder. The boy nodded, but turned his attention towards Aran again as Hagiya approached the boy with threatening steps.

“Right, so that I’ve to explain why I killed you without having anyone to prove that I am right.”

“Are you right? Did I not follow any orders until now?”

Hagiya let out an annoyed growl on that answer. When he stepped even closer to the boy and pointed the knife at him Kentaro sat up way too fast so that everything started spinning in front of his eyes.

“I warn you, if you sneak out like this again and you make any stupid attempt to change sides I'll be the one to take care of you!”

It took everyone by surprise when he left like this, but instead of feeling threaten, Aran started chuckling as they were left alone.

“Such a drama queen, isn't he?”

None of the other two shared his carefree mood though and soon Aran read the atmosphere and fell silent.

“We have to get back to the club and treat your arm,” Miyadate said, ignoring Aran for now as he tried to find something to bandage Kentaro’s arm, but both their clothes were dirty and couldn't be used.

“Idiot, you are hurt as well,” Kentaro reminded him.

“If you don't mind I can help you?” Aran offered as he removed the bandana around his neck and stepped closer. Miyadate gave him a doubting look, but Kentaro took his arm before he could get up.

“It's okay.”

When Kentaro nodded Aran dared to drop on his knees next to them, but when he drew out a knife Miyadate tensed right away. As much as he wanted to help Kentaro with his problems it was still hard to stay calm right in front of an Avernus member.

“I will just cut it,” Aran explained and held up the fabric in his hand. “You mind if I treat your wound first?”

Miyadate wasn't actually pleased by getting help, but with his shoulder being hurt and Kentaro having an injured arm there was just Aran who could actually treat the wounds.

“Fine,” he replied and Aran tried to bandage his shoulder as fast as possible to resolve the weird atmosphere.

“All done. Kentaro, show me your arm.”

“I'm waiting outside,” Miyadate announced all of a sudden. “I just want to make sure that Hagiya isn't around anymore when we leave.”

With that he went outside, but Kentaro hadn't missed the look he had given him before leaving. As much as he hated Avernus he couldn't take this chance away from Kentaro to finally talk to Aran. Especially with Hagiya’s threat they didn't know if there was a chance to meet again without it ending in a huge chaos.

“I'm sorry, Hagiya is really a big idiot sometimes. Normally he never goes against orders, but sitting still for weeks already made him finally reach his limits.”

While talking, Aran bandaged his arm and when he was done he looked up at Kentaro when the latter wasn't replying.

“Shall I take a look at your neck as-”

When he finally faced Kentaro directly again the boy's expression made him stop in the middle of the sentence. How had so much pain and disappointment found their way in his eyes in barely minutes?

Aran bit his lip and made an attempt to look away on which Kentaro suddenly grabbed him by the front of the jacket.

“Look at me!”

Aran needed a moment to be calm enough to actually stand the other one's scanning look and he took a deep breath before he did what he was told. “Why Aran? How could you betray me like this?”

“It wasn't like I knew you were a member there and the plan-”

With a harsh movement Kentaro pulled on Aran’s jacket and the boy let out a gasp and fell silent.

“Your plan is just the result. You entered on your own, didn't you? You decided to carry on with your mission even though it actually meant to kill me in the end as well.”

“No, I never-”

“Shut up and listen!” Kentaro wanted his voice to sound demanding, but it had already started shaking so he couldn't postpone this. “You could have still turned around whichever reason brought you there. I was right in front of you, I could have protected you.”

“So this time you could have promised me that you wouldn't disappear again?”

That actually made Kentaro’s stomach turn and he couldn't speak for a moment. How could he forget that he wasn't the only hurt one in this story?

“And you've Nikaido as well. Who are we kidding here there is no space for me in your new life.”

“You figured that out before or after we slept with each other?”

He hadn't actually intended to get as snappy as he suddenly felt, but it was now or never to set things straight.

“I- I'm sorry about using you like that. I've lost control at that time. I was stuck between what we had in our days together and my new identity.”

“But in the end you chose that new identity over me.”

First Aran wanted to deny, but he remained silent a moment longer. A troubled look had suddenly taken over before a brief almost sarcastic smile appeared on his face.

“Right. I've decided to remain at Avernus and with your club being out of our fight this will also be our last meeting.”

“What? Aran, what are you saying?” Fear had taken over Kentaro in seconds, because it was clear that Aran was suddenly running away. After letting his guard down he had built up his walls again. Kentaro tried to keep him down as he wanted to get up, but Aran shook off his hands and stood up.

“Please, Aran don't leave like this!”

“There is nothing else to say. I'm sorry for using you like this and for not being able to choose you over my new path.”

“No, Aran wait! Please, wait!”

Kentaro jumped up as the boy turned away from him. He grabbed him by the sleeve and got ready to get pushed away as Aran swirled around, but it came different than he expected as Aran suddenly hugged him.

“Aran?”

The other one didn't speak and slowly Kentaro dared to move his arms careful around the boy's back.

“I'm happy that you found someone who will protect you and stay with you whatever hardship comes your way,” Aran said in a low voice and if Kentaro didn't mistake he could hear the boy's voice slightly shaking.

“Aran, I-”

“Let’s end things here.”

“What?” For a brief moment Kentaro wanted to back off, but then Aran’s grip tightened around him and he was sure that he hadn’t misheard.

“I am actually quite happy that I found you here. I was at your club before, but of course I didn’t dare to get closer so I somehow ended up here. It’s where our story started, so let us end it here as well. Our ways have parted a long time ago and now we should finally let the past rest.”

“Just like this? Aran, there are so many things that we have to talk about, things I’ve to apologize-”

Instead of letting Kentaro go on, Aran suddenly pushed him backwards and cupped his face, giving him a rushed kiss. Kentaro didn’t even have time to think about a reaction, because Aran released him right away and turned his back on him.

“I don’t need any apology from you, not anymore. All I want is that you move on and leave the past behind.”

“Please, Aran…”

“Taiga is getting better by the way,” Aran interrupted him once more as he already took a few steps towards the door.

“Taiga…”

How could he forget? How had that not been his first question when Aran showed up? Shocked about his own egoistic behavior Kentaro dropped to his knees with an empty stare towards Aran’s back. The boy seemed to have realized Kentaro’s move, but still didn’t turn around to him.

“It had been almost a miracle that he didn’t die, but he will be fine soon. He was really lucky! I bet Ueda and the others will be thrilled to hear about it, so you should head back now.”

With that he just left and Kentaro could do nothing to stop him. Everything had just turned upside down once more and even though he had somehow also ended up here to finally make a cut this wasn’t exactly what he meant. This time it was obviously Aran who was running away, but the sudden mention of Taiga had made him freeze and unable to stop him from leaving.

“Hey, I just saw Aran leaving, are you...Kentaro?” Miyadate walked inside the building, but stopped when he saw Kentaro on the ground and his shocked expression just confirmed that he must look like a complete mess, but even worse was that he had started crying through the other one’s arrival, even though he was shouting inside to finally get a grip and not let others always take care of him.

But Miyadate didn’t seem to care for his inner struggle and just dropped to his knees in front of him to pull him into a hug.

“Taiga is okay…” Kentaro let out between his sobs and he was more than grateful that this had come out his mouth instead of any personal comment about Aran.

“That’s great news. But you are definitely not, so let’s head back for now?”

Kentaro just nodded. It wasn’t like he just wanted to leave. This was not how he had planned to feel after coming here and definitely not how he wanted to meet with Aran to talk things through. And even though Aran had told him that he didn’t want him to apologize anymore he knew that there was still something they had to talk about, damn there was so much they still hadn’t told each other!

But once again it had to wait and Kentaro was determined to not let Aran run away, after all he understood now how much it had hurt Aran when he had just left him behind, he didn’t want them to repeat the same mistake twice!


	5. Chapter 5

They had tried to sneak back inside the Fight Club building without getting seen, but Abe had been waiting for them almost right behind the entrance door with crossed arms and a scolding look, but seeing their injuries he left the preaching for later and told them to get to the med room. They had succeeded in getting inside without getting seen, but luck wasn’t with them when Ueda had suddenly appeared in the doorframe. He was barely sleeping over the last weeks anyways, so it was no miracle that he had been wandering around the building.

In the end Kentaro had told him what happened and he had started with the news about Taiga right away and as he had hoped Ueda’s will to yell at them for being this careless had vanished after hearing that he was okay or at least getting better.

So after Abe was done with treating their wounds Ueda had told them to rest in the med room for the night and that they would have a talk with everyone the next morning, especially after Hagiya had revealed that they were planning their final attack, which meant they had to prepare and how exactly that preparation was going to look like had to be discussed as soon as possible, but at least one night it could wait.

After Ueda had left again Abe had given Kentaro something to be able to sleep, because he was still way too shaken about what had happened. But even though he had been asleep pretty fast he woke up in the middle of the night and he needed a moment to recall everything. He was lying on his side and tried to force himself to get back to sleep, but it wouldn’t work. With a sigh he opened his eyes again and turned around on the bed.

What he hadn’t expected at all was someone sitting in the dark right next to his bed, staring back at him. With a surprised yelp he shifted back, almost falling off the other side of the bed. At the last moment the other one jumped up and pulled him back on his unhurt arm.

“Are you out of your mind? You scared me to death!” Kentaro scolded Nikaido who was sitting back on the chair with a hard to interpret expression. He seemed slightly amused by Kentaro’s reaction, but there was also anger showing on his face, as well as a hint of disappointment.

“Don’t be too loud or you will wake them up.”

“Them?”

Nikaido pointed to Miyadate’s bed and Kentaro had to smile as he saw that Abe was resting on one chair, while Watanabe was resting with his upper body right next to Miyadate.

“So of course Ueda didn’t wait until tomorrow to tell you.”

“Actually Abe woke us up and told us,” Nikaido explained to Kentaro’s astonishment, but on the other hand he could understand that the boy wanted to make sure that those who cared the most for them were there when they woke up.

“That means, you’ve heard everything...right?” Kentaro asked carefully on which Nikaido’s look darkened a bit and of course he nodded.

“Nikaido, I am sorry, I-”

“Don’t apologize. Kentaro, if I wanted you to apologize every time you handle things your way we wouldn’t be able to go on. It’s not like you did something bad, you need to handle some things on your own and I will be the last one to stand in your way after everything we went through. But I still want you to know that I am always here for you whatever happens and whatever decisions you make.”

There was not even a single reply Kentaro could think of after hearing that. He had been prepared for a lot of scolding and preaching, and here Nikaido just accepted the fact that Kentaro was way too reckless sometimes.

When Kentaro opened his mouth he realized that the only words that would come out were another apology so he bit his lip and remained silent, but of course the trouble was visible all over his face and he flinched when Nikaido’s hand landed under his chin to make him look up.

“You should sleep some more for now, okay? There is no need for you to get so worked up over everything that happened. We can talk about the details tomorrow if you feel the need to talk about it that is.”

That offer made Kentaro feel even worse. How could he always support him like this?

“Thank you.”

“Way better than an apology,” Nikaido replied with a brief smile on which Kentaro escaped a low chuckle.

When Nikaido wanted to take his hand away Kentaro took a hold on it and entwined their fingers.

“Are you staying here tonight? You don’t have to sit there the whole time the bed is spacious enough or use one of the other beds.”

“Calm down,” Nikaido interrupted him as Kentaro seemed to almost panic over the thought that Nikaido could just leave now. “I will be here when you wake up, I promise. I won’t leave your side even when you fall asleep. So would you do me the favor and rest some more?”

Now that Kentaro’s first shock about Nikaido knowing what had happened slowly resolved he realized that there was another emotion on the other one’s face and now it overshadowed everything else, worry! How could he have not realized that for Nikaido the part with Aran wasn’t important at the moment, because after all he had almost lost Kentaro. He had been so close to get killed by Hagiya and still here his own thoughts were just spinning around his guilty feelings, not realizing how much he had made Nikaido worry. When he squeezed Nikaido’s hand the latter looked at him curiously.

“I promise I will be more careful from now on. We have enough things to worry about already, being that careless and causing trouble, making everyone worry is not really what we need now... right?” The pause had been necessary to stop himself from voicing out another apology, but of course Nikaido had realized that and chuckled as he pulled him closer and placed a short kiss on his forehead.

“I have to admit that worrying for you is definitely not my favorite thing to do even though I’ve to do so a lot recently.”

“I’m so-”

On his try to apologies again Nikaido suddenly pulled him into a hug and squeezed him a little bit too much on which Kentaro let out a chuckle, mixed with a groan of complain, but Nikaido just squeezed him even more for a moment before he placed a kiss on his hair and released him again.

“Sleep, okay?”

“Fine,” Kentaro replied with a pout and lay back down, but kept looking at Nikaido for a while. Just when he had the feeling the latter was waiting for him to finally try and sleep he dared to close his eyes. But of course it wouldn’t work that easily, but suddenly Nikaido’s hand found his again and the younger one smiled while he pulled his hand up to his face, placing a short kiss on the back of it, on which Nikaido squeezed his hand.

“I am always here for you. Even when I am not right next to you, you can be sure that I am waiting for you to come back to my side. As long as you don’t leave my side I won’t either.”

That was definitely something Kentaro had to remind himself of when he would try and have another talk with Aran, because even though the other one had made his point clear before Kentaro wouldn’t let him run away like this. And with Nikaido’s support he felt even more encouraged to finally talk things through so that they could move on without any burden left on their shoulders.

***

The next day everything had suddenly been weirdly silent inside the Mugen hideout and Domoto had just made sure Taiga would take his medicine in the morning before he left without any explanations.

But somehow Taiga had the feeling that now that so much time had passed they were definitely up to something and whatever it was would take place soon.

As usual he had been locked inside the room, but because he could just get up long enough to make it to the bathroom and back he wasn’t actually annoyed by it.

When the lock of the door was suddenly heard Taiga wondered if whatever meeting Domoto was attending was already over, but the person that entered closed the door in a rush and locked it from the inside again.

The one at the door turned around, but before he could even say anything Taiga had jumped up from the bed and hugged him.

“Saku!”

“What a greeting,” the other one replied chuckling before he pushed Taiga slightly away. “But I doubt you should move that rushed.”

“Oh trust me I am more than happy about the few movements I can do, the first day I couldn’t even move up a hand without a sharp pain running through my whole body.”

“Doesn’t sound too pleasant,” Saku said with a grimace while pushing Taiga back towards the bed and the boy sat down without any complains, after all he couldn’t deny that his sudden move had hurt after all, but the pain was nothing compared to the days before and he still had enough pain killers if he needed them.

“I have not much time to be honest,” Saku started as he sat down next to Taiga on the bed, playing with the key in his hand while spending the door a worried look from time to time.

“Who gave you the key?”

“Can’t you guess?”

Taiga didn’t actually have to answer, because it was clear to both whom they were talking about.

“Why did he suddenly take the risk to let you sneak in? He is forbidden to see me, right? What if Domoto finds out about it? He will definitely punish him again.”

As much as he wanted Sakuma to stay longer so that he finally had someone to talk to he didn’t want to risk anything.

“They are in a really important meeting with all upper members at the moment that is why Reo risked it. But he also said I should leave as fast as possible. But I am really happy that I was able to see you and make sure you are okay. You are okay, right?”

Taiga chuckled on the weird look with which Sakuma scanned him before he nodded. “Yes, I am or more like I will be fine again. The medication I am getting gives me a hard time sometimes, but that will also stop as soon as I don’t have to take them anymore, which will hopefully be soon.”

“What’s wrong with the medicine?”

“Nothing special. I get some weird phases in which I get hyper aggressive and it doesn’t matter if it is Domoto or Aran, I will just snap. I’ve the feeling it gets better, but somehow now it seems like I get phases into the other direction in which I don’t care for anything, which is actually way scarier.”

Sakuma nodded on that, because he could imagine that it wasn’t that easy to handle such side effects. When there were people talking outside in the corridor both froze for a moment, listening if they came closer, but to their luck they seemed to have went somewhere else and the corridor fell silent again.

“I guess I should really leave, but I will try to come again.”

“Yes please do so, because without you and also without Reo it’s getting pretty boring.”

“If that is your only problem,” Sakuma replied with a teasing smile on which Taiga chuckled as he watched Sakuma walking to the door and taking a careful look through the keyhole before he dared to unlock the door again.

“You know, now that I’ve seen that Abe and Watanabe as well as your friends are out there fighting for us it gave me some extra strength to bear with whatever will happen from now on. They will come for us as soon as they are ready.”

The confidence with which the boy said it made Taiga smile once more and he nodded. “Until they come all we have to do is watch out not to break, right?”

“Reo’s words I guess? Then let’s hope we can do what he couldn’t.”

With that Sakuma vanished out the door and left Taiga behind with a confused expression. It wasn’t like Sakuma meant it in a bad way, because after all it was just the truth, right? But on the other hand Taiga had never given it a second thought. If he had really broken completely at some point would he still care for anyone? Would he even see the suffering Taiga went through and think he has to do something about it? What if Reo was actually still not as broken as he always thought himself he was?

Suddenly Taiga felt how he was about to come up with a stupid plan which could bring them into trouble once more, but keeping them apart like this was weakening both their defenses and of course Domoto was aware of that. So this time it was Taiga’s turn to play a game.

***

No one actually knew what to say or from where to start when they all met in the training room the next morning. Kentaro had told them what happened the evening before, but with all the fighters of the club gathered he left out certain parts about him and Aran of course. His arm and neck were still bandaged as well as Miyadate’s shoulder, but Miyata had taken a look at them in the morning and luckily it seemed like the injuries weren’t that bad.

“Okay, so we know that there is an attack coming, but not when,” Nakai concluded. “Not that we wouldn’t have known already that they were up to something, after all they wouldn’t lay low for so long if it wasn’t something big. Kamenashi and Kitayama are ready to move at any time and a lot of other fight clubs said they will join the battle as well, after all they don’t know if they will be attacked as well.”

“But the question is should we attack first or just block their attack?” Ueda asked.

“That is actually one step ahead of the question we should post here first,” Nikaido said looking at all the other fight club members which were gathered together with them. “Even though Hagiya attacked us against orders we are more or less out of the fight, so not one of their targets, but if we decide to attack it will be definitely break the deal.”

“Means, the question is if we shouldn’t just stay out of it?” Abe asked in disbelieve before Watanabe stepped forward so that he stood almost in the middle of the room, while the others were standing more towards the sides.

“I am not going to wait and watch how they destroy even more fight clubs and kill people. I can just speak for myself, but they took a friend of mine and of course I want him back as much as Ueda and the others want to get Taiga back, but I won’t just grab him and run off like this as if the rest wasn’t my problem. I am going to fight and if that means I have to leave the club again and join the Triangle I will do so!”

Miyadate formed a lopsided smile on the other one’s sudden speech and he stepped next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. “I am in as well! The upcoming fight will determine the future of the Underground and it might affect more lives than we think. Who knows for what they will use their power!”

“Count me in as well!”

It took them a moment to realize who had spoken and they turned towards the door, a smiling Shintaro leaning at the doorframe.

“Welcome back, I hope everything went without trouble?” Nakai asked the boy and he nodded as he moved directly into the center of the room, joining Miyadate and Watanabe.

“I am sorry that I am late, but we had to make sure that everything would work out.”

“Work out?” Abe asked confused.

“I mean that Sou and his family are really at a safe place,” Shintaro added through which his question seemed to be answered.

“So, who else wants to join our reckless plan?” Watanabe asked in an almost entertained voice on which Nikaido shook his head, but stepped forward at the same time, followed by Ueda and Kentaro.

“As if we leave all the fun to you,” Kentaro said teasingly.

“Oh, are you turning into the new Fuma of this club now? Please don’t do that to me,” Nikaido replied with a smirk on which Kentaro let out a chuckle.

Abe was the next one to step forward on which Watanabe gave him a worried look.

“Don’t worry, I am not going to join you at the front line, but you will need someone to take care of you after you are done with kicking their asses.”

“And the more the better,” Miyata added as he stepped next to the boy who nodded gratefully.

The next one to step forward was Nakai and he faced the remaining fighters of the club. “This is a fight way more dangerous than every tournament or street fight any of us ever entered. The members of this club went through a lot already and I have to say I am proud of every single one of you after all you are like my family. Which is also why I won’t force anyone to enter this fight! All of you are free to stay behind or even leave the club. There won’t be any consequences and we will make sure that you won’t get involved in any way.”

Silence followed his words and Kentaro and the others were sure that they had caused enough trouble over the last years to make them stay away from the fight, but to their surprise the first one stepped forward soon, followed by a few others until all of them stood in front of Nakai and the others.

“I think I am speaking for all of us when I say a few of you have brought us a lot of trouble and that not just once,” one of them addressed Nikaido and the others and they couldn’t actually deny that. “But you also showed us how important it is to stuck together and never give up as hopeless as things seem to be sometimes. You truly share the bond of a family and we won’t just stay at the sideline and watch how you fight for all of us. This is our fight as well!”

“Then I’d say we are ready to make a plan,” Nakai said proudly as he faced all the fight club members and there was not a single one which wasn’t ready to fight, after all the Underground was their home and there was no way they would hand it over without a fight.


	6. Chapter 6

“You took it in the morning, why won’t you take it now?” Hagiya asked annoyed with crossed arms to his chest as Taiga suddenly refused to take the medicine.

“I decided myself that I don’t need it anymore. I feel fine and if Sakurai doesn’t feel the need to explain me exactly for what reason I am still taking those capsules I won’t take them anymore,” Taiga replied in a snappy tone. In the morning Domoto had been there so he had just taken the capsule without any complain, but now it was his turn to mess things up a little bit.

“He told you that you need them so that the wound won’t get infected-”

“Oh come on, I am not that stupid. I had other bad injuries before, but I was never given any kind of medicine like this before. Especially not for such a long time!”

The weird part of his try to cause trouble was that his worries were actually true, because he started doubting that those capsules were actually for his wound and now that Hagiya seemed extremely stressed out just by the fact that he didn’t want to take them his suspicions got even bigger.

“Whatever, we were ordered to make sure you take them so you can take them on your own or I will make you take them.”

“Good luck trying,” Taiga said almost invitingly as he spread his arms while he remained on the bed. Hagiya rolled his eyes with a growl and walked around the bed to take one of the capsules out of the bottle next to the bed, but Taiga suddenly snatched it away.

“Okay, what the fuck? How old are you?”

“Oh I am sorry, am I ruining your mood? But to be honest you seem stressed out extremely lately, maybe you want to get someone else to help you out or does no one like you enough to lend you a hand?” Taiga’s mocking made the latter finally freak and he jumped on the bed, trying to get the bottle, but Taiga wouldn’t make it that easy for him and he turned on his stomach, taking a strong hold on the bottle while pressing it against his upper body.

“I swear I am going to hurt you if you don’t hand over that stupid medicine!”  
“Are you sure you want to risk the punishment? Oh what would Domoto say if you hurt his precious toy?”

That actually made Hagiya halt for a moment and that just in time, because Taiga felt how their struggle made the pain of his wound return.

Without saying anything Hagiya left the room and Taiga blinked in confusion as he was left alone. For a moment he thought he would have just given up like this and leave it to Domoto to give him the medicine later, but after a while the door opened again and the boy stepped in, followed by an extremely gloomy looking Kochi.

It was the first time that they actually met in the hideout and Taiga froze for a moment as the boy stepped next to the bed with an indifferent look. It almost seemed like he didn’t recognize him or more like he didn’t want to show any emotion in front of him which gave Taiga the creeps, but it wasn’t the time to have an argument with the boy now, that was not part of his plan.

“Hold him down,” Hagiya ordered Kochi who moved on the bed on that, but of course Taiga shifted back, the bottle still in his hand, but out of a sudden Hagiya grabbed his arm as his focus was on Kochi and snatched the bottle away.

Taiga tried to take it back, but before he could do so Kochi had forced him to lie on his back and held him down on his shoulders.

“As if you could force me to take it,” Taiga yelled at them as Hagiya took one of the capsules out before he sat on the bed next to Taiga. But when he tried to get a grip on the boy’s face he started struggling again, this time even more than before and even though it hurt he didn’t stop, making it hard for Kochi to keep a grip on him as he tried to turn on his stomach.

“This is so annoying! I can’t believe we have to deal with you,” Hagiya hissed as he grabbed Taiga by the hair and tried to force him to look at him, but when he tried to shove the capsule in his mouth Taiga suddenly bit him in the hand.

“BASTARD, LET GO!” Hagiya yelled at him and ripped his hand away. Before anyone could react he gave Taiga a harsh punch in the face on which the boy let out a yelp and tried to get away as Hagiya lunged out again. To his surprise Kochi suddenly pulled him up and out of the boy’s reach.

“Are you out of your mind? You know what Domoto will do to you if he finds out that you hit him?” Kochi said in a neutral voice which didn’t fit his actions at all, but Hagiya didn’t seem to care anymore as he got up with a curse.

“Where are you going?”

“Getting someone who can deal with his stubbornness!” Hagiya shouted as he was already half out the door.

Kochi seemed to feel extremely uncomfortable as he was suddenly left alone with Taiga and he let go of the boy and stood up again. There was a heavy atmosphere lying in the room and as much as Taiga felt like saying something he remained silent for now. Kochi seemed to be even more unwilling to talk than Juri after all, so if he could actually speak to him it had to wait for a better timing.

“I don’t care for his orders, okay? He also ordered us to make him take that stupid medicine and you are the only one around at the moment who could actually succeed without having to hurt him, so just do it!”

When they heard Hagiya’s angry yelling at the hallway Kochi opened the door, on which Hagiya stormed inside and dragged a confused looking Reo after him.

It was when Reo’s look fell on Taiga that the boy had to watch out not to smile. His plan had worked out faster than he had thought, but now the complicated part started. After all he had to somehow make Reo understand his plan without actually being able to talk to him about it.

“Okay, now you are really trying to get punished, don’t you?” Kochi asked in disbelieve as Hagiya shoved Reo next to the bed and handed him the capsule.

“Shut it, Kochi. You said it yourself, we will definitely get punished if we hurt him and even though Reo is actually forbidden to be here I bet Domoto will understand our decision as long as the result is satisfying.”

“Your decision, not ours. Don’t drag me into this!” Kochi complained and wanted to leave, but Hagiya stopped him.

“Too late, you are in already, so now you wait until this is done.”

Hagiya turned towards Reo who was staring back at him with a lost expression.

“What are you waiting for, give him the fucking capsule so that we can finally leave,” Hagiya ordered him impatiently on which Reo slowly turned towards Taiga.

“You don’t want to take t?” Reo asked in confusion and it was obvious that there were so many other things he would like to talk about instead and it was the same for Taiga, but for now he had to stick to the plan.

“I told them before as well, but I won’t take them anymore, because I doubt they will help with my condition and they have heavy side effects.”

“They do?” Reo asked towards Hagiya this time who shrugged his shoulders.

“How should I know? Sakurai is the one in charge of the medicine. But Domoto told us to make sure he takes them in the morning and evening and until now you didn’t even seem to care about the side effects,” Hagiya turned towards Taiga, but of course the boy still didn’t want to take them.

“Then wait for Domoto and he can give them to him,” Reo concluded.

“I won’t take them just because he says I have to, you know? It’s not like I’m scared of his punishments,” Taiga added right away on which Reo raised an eyebrow at him. “What? Let me guess you just want them to let you leave so that you won’t end up in trouble instead. Please feel free to do so, it’s not like I’d take them from you just because they think we get along.”

Taiga pierced Reo with an intense stare after that and luckily there was a reaction visible on the other one’s face. Did he get the message? It wasn’t like it was easy to understand what he aimed for, but they had went through so much trouble until here that Reo was definitely the only one who could get what Taiga meant.

“Reo, could you at least try anything? I didn’t bring you for decoration,” Hagiya growled at the other one on which Reo looked at the capsule once more before he faced Taiga with a determined look and suddenly his mask seemed to build up again which actually made a brief lopsided smile visible on Taiga’s lips before the latter moved.

When he sat down on the bed Taiga shifted away on which Reo held out the capsule towards him. “Your last chance to take it on your own.”

“As if,” Taiga replied on which Reo turned towards the other two.

“Hold him down.”

“We tried that before and we actually brought you to make him take it without us having to hurt him,” Kochi interfered.

“Right, perfect plan and how exactly did you think I could do that? Am I a magician that can put spells on people?”

Reo’s mocking reply made Kochi roll his eyes before he reluctantly walked up to the bed again, followed by Hagiya.

“Just make sure he can’t move that much or he will hurt himself,” Reo said as the two tried to get a grip on Taiga who tried to get up from the bed, but was dragged down again and this time he couldn’t get away easily. Hagiya had pinned his arms over his head while sitting behind him, while Kochi had sat down on his legs, holding his body down as good as possible as he tried to twist away.

“Spare us the drama, would you?” Reo said in a serious tone as he grabbed Taiga by the chin and forced him to look at him. “If you keep refusing, Domoto will find a way to make you take it anyway and a punishment for your dissilience will follow as well.”

“As if you’d care for that,” Taiga shot at him on which Reo shrugged his shoulders.

“Actually, no I don’t care, but now I am the one who could end up in trouble because of those two idiots, so I will at least make sure to give him a reason to punish you and not me in the end.”

Reo’s cold tone and indifferent look made Hagiya and Kochi look at each other in confusion and as much as Taiga felt like smiling he kept a straight face as he looked up at Reo.

The boy tried to force him open his mouth, but Taiga kept struggling as good as he could and when Reo was about to shove the capsule into his mouth Taiga succeeded once more in ripping himself out of his grip. What no one of the others had expected was him spitting Reo in the face after that and a weird silence filled the room. Kochi and Hagiya exchanged a worried look as Reo’s look darkened to a dangerous extend.

“Hagiya, take the capsule.”

“What, but-”

“I said take it,” Reo hissed and Hagiya took the capsule from him before Reo shifted his position and sat up on his knees, hovering over Taiga. “When he opens his mouth you will make sure that he takes it,” he added and before anyone could actually ask what he was planning he closed one hand around Taiga’s neck while he held his nose with the other hand. Soon Taiga started struggling for air, but Reo wouldn’t let him get out of his grip and when he finally had to take a deep breath through his mouth Hagiya shoved the capsule in his mouth. Taiga got ready to spit his out again, but then Reo’s hand traveled from his neck to his mouth, now keeping him completely from breathing.

“Swallow it,” Reo ordered him, but of course Taiga refused and started struggling even more. It almost seemed like he was going on for minutes in which he tried to make him let go, but it was of no use and slowly his body started shaking under their grip.

“Ehm, are you sure this is a good idea?” Kochi asked worried as it seemed like Taiga would rather let them suffocate him instead of finally taking the medicine.

“Swallow it,” Reo repeated and ignored the other two while Taiga was obviously about to lose consciousness if he kept going like this. But just a few seconds later there was suddenly a movement of his throat and at the same moment Reo removed his hands.

Taiga let out a painful cough before he was even able to take a deep breath, which was interrupted by Reo again as he forced him to keep his mouth open so that he could take a look if he had really swallowed it.

“If you don’t want to go through the same each time you have to take it you should accept that no one will go easy on you here,” Reo let out as he shifted a little bit back on which Kochi and Hagiya finally released Taiga who remained on his back and tried to somehow stop his body from shaking and kept taking deep breathes with his eyes closed.

All four of them jolted when someone suddenly clapped his hands behind them and in seconds everyone except Taiga was on their feet as Domoto was standing in the open door.

While trying to make Taiga take the medicine they hadn’t even realized that he had entered.

“Congratulations, it took all three of you to make a boy take a single capsule. Shall I know be disappointed in you or congratulate Taiga on his stubbornness?” Domoto asked with one of his unfitting smiles which made the boys look to the ground. When he walked up to them they all froze to the spot, not able to voice out an explanation or apology.

“Kochi, Hagiya thank you for helping out, you are free to go.”

On his words the two boys exchanged a worried look, but after they bowed to the leader they left for the door and weren’t stopped, so he wasn’t actually fooling them. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t actually get punished later.

Domoto let out a sigh before he lifted his hand towards Reo’s chin to make the other one look up at him, but surprise was written over his face as Reo stared back at him with his perfect mask.

“Oh? Does that look tell me you don’t see a need to apologies?” Domoto asked with an entertained expression.

“If you want me to apologize I will do so of course, but I didn’t come on my own, I was asked to help out and all I did was what you actually ordered everyone else to do. Please feel free to punish me if you disagree on my methods, but I thought you preferred it when your orders were followed without having to inform you that they couldn’t handle it on their own.”

Now Domoto’s eyes seemed to start sparkling as he moved his hand over Reo’s cheek, his thumb caressing the skin under his eyes. “I’ve missed that look of yours. That confidence which makes you so arrogant.”

Reo didn’t flinch even when Domoto moved his hands lower to his lips while he formed a way too excited smile.

“Mh, maybe a punishment isn’t what I should consider at the moment, but I’ve to take advantage of your sudden obedience.”

Who was the arrogant one here? Taiga wanted to ask, but of course he remained silent which was actually hurting him a lot. But fact was that Domoto’s sudden appearance had made the plan work even better. Taiga wouldn’t dare to reveal his disgust towards what was happening right in front of his eyes, because he knew that Reo was behaving this obedient because he had realized what Taiga was up to.

When Domoto pulled away he made an inviting movement with his arm towards the door and Reo bowed immediately before he left the room.

“Seems like you made him angry,” Domoto commented with a teasing smile on which Taiga just shot him a death glare. “I hope you learned your lesson. If you refuse to take the medicine again I will make sure Reo will make you take it.”

With that Domoto left the room and when he locked the door Taiga finally dared to let the smile appear which he had held back the whole time.

“Looking forward to it,” Taiga whispered with a satisfied expression. But of course he couldn’t deny that he felt more than sorry for Reo now that the boy had chosen to help him with his plan, even though it meant he had to make a step towards the wrong direction first before things could get better again.

***

“And here I thought you are the one of us which doesn’t jump head forward into any risky situations,” Watanabe said with a chuckle as Miyata had allowed Kentaro and Miyadate to leave the med room.

“It’s not like it was obvious to end in such a disaster. I just wanted to help out Kentaro, who could have known that Hagiya would show up just like this?” Miyadate replied as he dropped on his bed carefully.

“If we keep going like this we will all be hurt when the actual fight starts.”

“Who knows when that is, maybe their side doesn’t look much better, so if we are lucky their preparations will still need some time. By the way how is your arm?”

Watanabe moved his arm up and down on that question, but he was obviously still trying to not move it in some weird angles as his shoulder wasn’t allowing all the movements yet.

“I don’t know how it will be when I am fighting, but as long as you don’t attack me it should be fine.”

“Why would I attack you?” Miyadate asked in confusion, but his question got answered when Watanabe suddenly dropped on the bed, crawling on top of the other one.

“Oh, what a shame, now I can’t promise you anymore that I won’t attack you,” Miyadate replied playful as he lifted his unhurt arm up to move his hand into the other one’s hair, pulling him down into a greedy kiss before the older one could even reply.

“Just make sure you don’t hurt yourself in the progress,” Watanabe said against the other one’s lips as the parted. In response Miyadate rocked his hips up on which Watanabe smirked at him before his hand traveled towards the other one’s hips.

“So impatient, aren’t you?”

“Says the right one,” Miyadate replied and moved his hand without a warning to the other one’s crotch, feeling his already hardening member through the fabric. “If you want to take it slow I guess you’ve to calm down or you’ll be done before I get even started.”

“Who said I wanted to take it slow in the first place?”

That was all Miyadate needed to know and he tried to turn them around, but to his surprise Watanabe stopped him.

“No chance.”

“Then I’ll wait down here for you to entertain me,” Miyadate replied in a challenging tone on which Watanabe raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, either you are not in competition mood today or your injury really hurts.”

“Don’t be so dramatic or are you afraid now that I left the lead to you?” Miyadate teased the other one as he halted the moment he realized that Miyadate wouldn’t stop him.

When Watanabe kept hesitating, the other one pulled him down on the collar so that he was able to whisper into his ear.

“If I were you I’d take advantage of this. Who knows when you’ll get another chance to play by your own rules?”

That actually made Watanabe chuckle in a low voice and instead of getting up again he lowered his lips towards the other one’s neck on which Miyadate craned it as much as possible to the back to give him better access.

Even though Watanabe had said in the beginning that he wasn’t about to take it slow he actually took his time exploring the other one’s upper body with his mouth after he had stripped both of them out of their shirts. Which had been the most complicated part for both of them, but somehow they had succeeded without too much trouble, even though Miyadate had complained somewhere in the middle as Watanabe wasn’t able to get his shirt off without hurting his shoulder.

“If you keep teasing me like this I might not allow you to play again,” Miyadate said after Watanabe had finally reached his belly button with his tongue, but left his hands still around his hips instead of where they were obviously needed at the moment.

“As long as I can play now I don’t mind. You can give me payback whenever you feel like it,” Watanabe let out challenging and of course Miyadate had prepared a snarky reply, but his words were replaced by a moan when Watanabe suddenly reached out for his crotch and gave his already hard member a rough stroke over the fabric.

Watanabe felt extremely pleased by his reaction and finally he seemed to get too excited himself to keep a slow pace and he sat up to strip Miyadate out of his pants and underwear in one go while he tossed his remaining clothes to the ground as well before he settled down between the younger one’s legs.

“By the way, did you lock the door?” Watanabe asked on which Miyadate blinked at him with a weird mix of confusion and annoyance. “I just mean, you know Abe had warned us before and I don’t really want to deal with his tantrum if he walks in by accident.”

Instead of a reply Miyadate suddenly reached out for the other one and pulled him down on his hair. The sudden and harsh movement made Watanabe hiss and he stared at the other one a little bit startled.

“If you finally hurried then there is nothing to worry about, but I swear if you get up now I make you pay for it.”

Which meant the door wasn’t locked, but he didn’t care. But if Watanabe didn’t want this to be the last time he was allowed to take the lead he knew he should take the risk instead of making the younger one angry and he couldn’t deny that getting up was something he was definitely not planning on doing at the moment.

Miyadate pulled on his hair once more on which Watanabe faced him with a dark look which made the other one tilt his head.

“What?”

Instead of an answer he received a deep and harsh kiss which took him by full surprise, as well as the way Watanabe pushed him down into the covers again while his other hand found its way to his thigh to spread his legs.

“Isn’t it unfair that you give me the lead, but still keep commanding me around?”

Miyadate formed a teasing smile on that, but with Watanabe’s next move he buried his teeth in the latter’s underlip the same moment he entered him.

The groan the other one let out could have been out of several reasons, but just to be sure Watanabe halted his movements for a moment while he licked the latter’s lips before he gave him another kiss.

When there was a sudden respond to it and Miyadate closed his legs around the other one’s hips to be able to rock his hips up, Watanabe dared to move again and a low moan was swallowed by their kiss.

There was a moment somewhere in the middle when they got too excited and Watanabe had to apologies as he had reached out for the younger one’s hurt shoulder without thinking, but Miyadate didn’t seem to care as he just pulled him down again.

As much as Watanabe wanted to keep enjoying his game it soon got too much for him, after all they had been forced to stay away from each other long enough and they could still go for a second round if they actually wanted things to last longer, but for now he gave up and let his climax take over him. With a low moan he buried his face on the crook of Miyadate’s neck and the latter had his hands in his hair right away.

“Look, with that speed Abe wouldn’t even have the chance to make it over to my room,” Miyadate teased him right away on which Watanabe lifted himself up just to hit him on the forehead. “But now you are allowed to lock the door.”

“Oh, out of a sudden? And that would be why?”

“Because I am going to turn the tables now and trust me I will take my time.”

The excited shine in Watanabe’s eyes made the other one form a lopsided smile and of course Watanabe wouldn’t let him wait, so he jumped up to lock the door, but this time he was the one getting dragged down on the sheets as he sat down on the bed again and Miyadate sat on top of him with a greedy look.

“In your excitement you completely seem to have forgotten about me, which means I can do the same with you now.”

“What a shame that I won’t actually mind,” Watanabe let out confident, but suddenly the other one’s hand closed around his cock and even though he was so close as well he ignored his own needs for now as he slid down between the other one’s legs and took his member in his mouth on which Watanabe let out a small whine. He still didn’t get much time to come down from his climax and feeling how he got erected that easily again he almost felt embarrassed.

“You still don’t mind?” Miyadate asked with a kind of arrogant smile as he backed off again and leant down to give the other one a rushed kiss and as much as Watanabe tried to keep him down Miyadate wouldn’t let him and he sat up again, entering him slowly.

“Do I see the need for more on your face?” Miyadate teased him as he started to thrust in and out with a slow rhythm and Watanabe hid his face under one arm as he tried to calm down, but it wouldn’t work to Miyadate’s obvious amusement as he picked up his pace, but still didn’t help Watanabe out in any kind of way.

“Ryota, please….” The older one begged after a while and dug his fingers into the latter’s hips on which Miyadate let out a low chuckle as he moved one hand slowly over the other one’s abs.

“Do I hear the desperation of defeat speaking?”

It astonished Watanabe how the younger one could still be that calm and take it that slow while being so close for such a long time already, but unfortunately he didn’t have that type of stamina and he just nodded, giving the other one a begging look.

“Please?” The defeated sound of his voice made Miyadate shiver and he finally leant down to him again and Watanabe made sure to keep a tight grip on the other’s hair to make sure that he wouldn’t back off in the middle again. But the way Miyadate had suddenly rushed in with harsher thrusts showed that he had reached his limits as well.

Watanabe broke the kiss as the other one closed his hand around his cock and gave him a teasing first slow stroke.

Their breathing pace had gotten too erratic for them to keep their lips locked together, but they still somehow searched for the contact to each other’s lips while just leaving enough space to breath.

Watanabe came first and with a way too pleasured moan considering that it was already his second climax in such a short time. Miyadate followed just seconds later and rested his forehead against the older one’s while they both tried to calm down.

A sudden knock on the door made them both jolt and they remained silent for a moment without even actually knowing why.

“Guys, I would say I am sorry to interrupt, but to be honest I am not. Locking the door won’t solve the problem if you keep being that loud and by the way Ueda wants us to meet early tomorrow morning for training, so tune it down, especially because I’ve the room next to yours if you’ve forgotten.”

Both boys kept staring at each other after Abe seemed to have disappeared in his room like that again without waiting for a reply. Miyadate was the first one to crack a smile and when Watanabe burst out laughing Miyadate had to put his hand over his mouth to make sure Abe wouldn’t come over to scold them once more.

At least they had made the right decision in locking the door!


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn’t surprising that Domoto didn’t force Taiga to take the capsule the next morning as the boy refused to take it again. After all Domoto was leaving the dirty work to other people, at least as long as no one made him freak. Taiga had seen often enough by now how scary he could be when his mask dropped, but for now he seemed to be safe as the latter left the room without any other attempt to persuade him to take the medicine.

What Taiga hadn’t expected though was the door opening just minutes later, revealing Reo. The boy wore his mask as perfectly as the evening before and it hurt Taiga a lot to see him like this. When the boy closed the door behind him Taiga was astonished that Domoto had allowed him that easily to see Taiga again and that even alone. Was his mask that perfect? Or had he just succeeded in persuading Domoto in another way.

Both boys stayed silent as Reo stepped next to the bed, but soon Taiga couldn’t stand the other one’s cold look anymore and his look slowly turned into an apologizing expression.

“Reo…” Taiga started as he slowly sat up on his knees, but before he could even let out any kind of apology the latter had suddenly dropped on the bed and pulled Taiga in a tight hug which Taiga returned without even realizing how his hands had started shaking as he closed his arms around the latter’s back and rested his chin on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Reo I am so sorry!” Taiga let out in a shaking voice and even though he couldn’t actually explain how he had suddenly broke down like this he didn’t actually mind, not in front of Reo. It was when a sob escaped him that he had to chuckle at his own behavior. “Isn’t it unfair how I seem like the hurt one, even though I was egoistic enough to send you through hell just to be able to speak to you again?”

On that Reo suddenly pushed him back on his shoulder and Taiga let out a surprised gasp on the sudden movement and froze as he met Reo’s look. His mask was gone completely and somehow he felt like it was the first time Reo showed him what he felt without hiding. And even though there was the same pain in his eyes he felt, it made him feel relieved to see him like this. After all he had really understood the plan and had built up his perfect mask just for him and was now able to put it on and take it off depending on the situation and without the inner struggle he went through over the whole time since Taiga arrived.

“I could have said no, you know? I could have just ignored the way you ask me for help with your look. The obviously need to have me back at your side, because who would not go insane with just those idiots around for weeks already? But I’ve to say if you ever spit me in the face again I will definitely punch you next time!”

Reo cracked a brief smile while Taiga couldn’t actually switch in his carefree mood on which the latter’s look turned serious again. “It wasn’t just you who felt left alone over those weeks. Sure I got updated by the others about what happened and how your condition was, but being that mistrusted by Domoto made things extremely complicated for me as well over the last weeks and normally you were the one I came to when things got too much.”

On that Taiga lifted his hand to the boy’s cheek with a faint smile. “Then I hope you will forgive me for being egoistic.”

Reo nodded and released Taiga, but the boy kept his hand on the boy’s cheek with a weird look on which Reo stared back at him in slight confusion.

“Are you okay?”

“Mh? Yeah, all good,” Taiga replied kind of absentminded as if he didn’t even realize how intense he had kept staring at the boy. Taiga hawked before he finally removed his hand and looked away and the embarrassment showing on his face made Reo laugh on which Taiga lifted an eyebrow at him. But instead of saying anything Reo just dropped down on the mattress and turned towards the table with the capsules, taking one out and handed it to Taiga, whose look darkened on that move.

“You want me to throw it in the toilet? It’s not like I would mind, but to be honest I’ve the feeling Domoto would notice if you suddenly didn’t take them anymore.”

“But they obviously do something weird to my body or more to my mind and I am not sure if I should really keep taking them. It seems like he has started another game without explaining the rules.”

“Then how about you keep taking them until I find out more about them?” Reo suggested as he turned to the table once more and let one of the capsules vanish inside the pocket before he handed Taiga the glass with water. The boy made a grimace, but took the medicine in the end and Reo dropped back on the mattress with a satisfied expression.

“Don’t worry too much. As long as you are aware of them doing something you just have to keep analyzing Domoto’s behavior and obviously your own.”

“I actually feel like I’ll go crazy with some weird medicine or without it. I am in this room for over two weeks now.”

“I’d love to let you walk around in the hideout at least, but I guess we still have to wait with that, after all your wound will still need some time to heal and I don’t want Domoto to get angry again, because I didn’t watch out for you enough.”

“So you are my personal mum now?” Taiga said scolding as he hit the boy on the shoulder before he also lay down, but when he turned his head to the side his long strands of hair covered his eyes almost completely on which Reo brushed them carefully back.

For a moment he kept playing with his hair before he suddenly got up without a warning on which Taiga blinked at him in confusion.

“What are you doing?” Taiga asked almost panicked as the other one headed for the door.

“Just wait a moment, I promise I’ll be back right away.”

And it really didn’t take longer than maybe a minute for Reo to be back and Taiga needed a moment to realize what he had in his hand.

“What is that for?”

“What does it look like?” Reo asked as he lifted the comb and scissor he had brought. “I can’t get you out of the room, but I can at least make sure that you don’t die of boredom, so for now I will cut your hair, because that is more than necessary.”

Taiga tilted his head on the weird excitement in Reo’s look as he waited for the boy to get up and after a moment he let out a sigh and carefully got up from the bed. “I hope you know what you are doing, otherwise I will shave your head bald as a punishment.

That made Reo laugh out loud and Taiga had to smile as well as Reo helped him towards the bathroom.

Sure he had seen himself in the mirror several times over the past weeks, but he hadn’t actually spent his hair that much attention, after all he had had enough other problems. But seeing it now how it reached already over his shoulders at the back his look suddenly darkened, a lot.

“What is it?” Reo asked carefully as he saw the change in the other one’s eyes right away.

“Nothing special, just some memories I don’t really need to come back to the surface right now.”

Reo nodded, but Taiga didn’t seem to get out of his sudden down easily on which Reo took his hair in his hands and stroke it behind his ears.

“If you don’t want to speak about it I don’t mind, but I can help you to forget it at least for now.”

“I learnt how to live with it, but I will never be able to forget.”

“Maybe I chose the wrong words, but you know I’ve learned to live with certain things as well and when things got too difficult to handle and my past was about to swallow me I chose to change my direction to save myself.”

Taiga looked at the other one’s reflection in the mirror as the boy stroke his hair back into a ponytail and was taking a hold on it with one hand before he pierced Taiga with a knowing look. It gave Taiga a shiver as he realized how much they had learnt to read each other without needing any words.

“It’s not just your past, right? It’s the whole mess you are in! The way Domoto is playing his games with you, how you were so close to Ueda, but couldn’t get back to him. How you had to fight your best friend to save your club. It’s slowly breaking you…”

It didn’t take any of them by surprise as Taiga started crying while he kept staring back at the other one through the mirror. There were no sobs, no try to look away this time, because he was fully aware of all his weaknesses himself.

“I don’t want to break,” Taiga let out in a steady voice on which Reo’s look got more determined as he stepped even closer until his face was next to the boy’s ear.

“Are you ready to safe yourself then? Let me help you to find out of that black hole once more.”

“How?”

It was a question, but also an answer at the same time, because his look told Reo everything he needed to know as he stepped back a bit again.

“By making a cut!”

It was just one small movement, but it actually changed a lot for Taiga and the boy kept staring at his own reflection in the mirror after Reo had cut off the full length of his hair.

“Better?” Reo asked as he let the long strands drop to the ground and waited for Taiga’s reaction. What surprised him was when Taiga turned around to take the scissor out of his hand. With a determined look he turned back to the mirror and started cutting off the last long strands that remained, but his movements turned more and more shaking with every strand that fell to the ground until Reo had to reach out for his hands to make sure that he wouldn’t cut himself. At the same moment Taiga started crying again and he dropped to the ground, letting the scissor fall down as Reo crouched down behind him and pulled him against his chest.

“Thank you,” Taiga whispered on which Reo tightened his grip and rested his chin on the other one’s hair.

“Please just tell me that I won’t lose my hair now?”

On that question one of Taiga’s sobs was swallowed by a small laughter before he shook his head.

“If you take care of the mess I created then no.”

“Deal. Then come on, we have to make sure to take care of this before Domoto comes back. I guess he will get angry one way or the other, but if you look like you’ve put your head in a mixer when he comes back he might seriously freak.”

“Could it be because of the medicine that I am looking forward to it?” Taiga asked almost back into his normal teasing mood, but he was still shaking as Reo helped him up again.

“Nope, sorry but that is your typical stubbornness and carelessness speaking. But keep it, like that you will remain in control of your own actions,” Reo replied with a chuckle before he picked up the scissor and started taking care of the mess they had created.

It had been such a small decision and would definitely look completely unimportant to someone else, but even without being aware of all the details Reo knew how important this step was for Taiga to find his strength once more and keep fighting.

***

“Watanabe, don’t overdo it!” Ueda scolded the boy as he had of course begged the trainer to be allowed to train with the others.

“I am not even using my arm.”

“That is not what I mean! He will black out if you don’t release him.”

“Oh.” On that realization Watanabe pulled back his legs which with he had held down Shintaro and the boy let out a cough as he rolled to the side. “Sorry.”

“Sometimes I’ve the feeling you are still mad at me,” Shintaro let out as he sat up.

“Mh, no actually not. I have enough real Mugen members to beat up and I would prefer you kicking some ass together with me instead of me kicking yours.”

When Watanabe got up and held out his hand towards the younger one, Shintaro smiled and let himself get dragged up into a standing position.

“No matter when and where Mugen will attack I see Shota jumping into the battle first,” Miyadate said with a smirk and Abe nodded right away.

“That is his personality and I guess it won’t change that easily. I am sure getting Saku out is his highest priority, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t have some fun on the way.”

“As long as you are here to take care of him and Saku afterwards, I guess it’s fine,” Miyadate replied as he got ready to get in the ring next, as Ueda had told him to fight against Nikaido.

“I am here for you as well! It’s not just Watanabe who cares for you. Even though I definitely care for you in a different way,” Abe added on which Miyadate formed a teasing, yet thankful smile before he moved towards the ring.

“Don’t hurt him,” Ueda warned Nikaido as they both stood in the ring.

“Who says I will have the chance to? I’d say he is a really good fighter himself,” Nikaido replied on which Miyadate seemed slightly embarrassed all of a sudden.

“Fine, then don’t kill each other,” Ueda added before he opened the fight.

“Hey, runaway!”

When a hand landed on Kentaro’s shoulder, while he had concentrated on the fight in the ring he flinched and found Myuto and Fukka behind him as he turned around.

“Hey…” was all Kentaro could bring out for now, because after all he hadn’t expected them to show up at their club.

“We heard you ran into some trouble? Are you okay?” Fukka asked carefully and with a gloomy expression on which Kentaro nodded.

“Yes, just a few cuts, nothing too bad. What are you doing here?”

“Actually, we would like to speak to you for a moment,” Myuto let out in a low voice, taking a look around, but everyone else was busy with their training. “Alone?”

“Sure.”

With everyone at the training room Kentaro chose to go to the common room with them and a heavy silence fell between them as they arrived.

“So what-” Kentaro started, but was interrupted as Myuto sank to his knees in front of him without a warning and put his head down to the ground. “Myuto…”

Fukka followed his example right afterwards, leaving Kentaro gaping at them in disbelieve.

“Guys, please stop this. There is no reason for you to do this.”

“There is and you know it!” Myuto started and lifted his head just a bit to be able to look at Kentaro and the boy held his breath as he saw the pain in his eyes. “We should have apologized right away, but I guess we were all too shocked after the mess we created and without knowing what actually happened to Taiga we thought you would never accept an apology from us.”

“But it’s not me who got hurt, why would I even want you to apologize? I know I was furious at that time, but who wouldn’t have? We were all shocked.”

“But it was you who had to take on the biggest challenge that day,” Fukka started as he sat up a bit as well. “You fought against your best friend for the sake of the whole Underground and we idiots messed both your sacrifices, because we behaved that immature.”

“Nakai had come to the other clubs and the Triangle to inform us about Taiga’s condition and hearing that he will be fine in the end finally gave us the courage to show up,” Myuto said as he bowed to the front once more. “We are sorry for being that stupid! We’ve risked Taiga’s life and the safety of all tournament members.”

For a moment Kentaro didn’t know how to reply. Both boys had their heads down on the ground again and nothing seemed right about the whole situation, even though Kentaro could understand their decision of coming to apologize.

“If you want me to accept your apology then you have to promise me something,” Kentaro let out after thinking about the situation for a moment. They had burdened themselves with the guilt for weeks now and still they had the courage to show up, which showed how important it was for them to apologize.

Both boys sat up and waited for him to speak again on which Kentaro sat down in front of them, because it just didn’t feel right to look down at his friends.

“Since I’ve entered the fight clubs our clubs were competing against each other and we still got along well. We hang out at clubs, have our quarrels here and there and rescue each other’s’ butts after some of us screwed up.” That actually made both boys smile faintly, as they knew that Kentaro was talking about the time they were trying to get Nikaido back from the Fire Foxes. “I will be honest, yes I was angry at you for risking Taiga’s life, but you actually risked your own lives on the way as well and you did so because you wanted Taiga back as much as we all do. So if you want me to forgive you, you have to promise to keep fighting with us. Promise me that you will do everything to help us getting Taiga back home!”

It seemed to surprise them that Kentaro actually asked for their help, but they shared a brief look before they faced Kentaro with a determined expression and nodded.

“He is our friend as well! You are all like our family; we will do everything to bring him back!” Myuto said on which Kentaro cracked a bright smile.

“Thank you. And please don’t apologize again. We’ve made things clear now, so we shouldn’t keep this weird atmosphere between us, it doesn’t feel right.”

When Fukka clapped his hands without a warning and jumped up the same moment the other two jolted and turned towards him with wide eyes.

“What? You said we’ve to help, right? Then let’s go! Training is still on, so let’s kick some ass!”

With that Fukka stormed out of the room on which Myuto looked at Kentaro with a confused look, but the other one just shrugged his shoulders before they both burst out laughing.

“I guess it was really a burden to him. He was way too quiet over the past weeks,” Myuto said as they both got up to follow Fukka.

“I am really grateful that you came and that you join us. Now you’ve just to make sure to apologize to Taiga as well. I know he jumped in front of you, but I’ve the feeling he will yell at you for being an idiot as soon as he sees you again.”

“Mh, now I am not that sure anymore if I should really go,” Myuto let out with a chuckle on which Kentaro hit him against the shoulder. Even though their upcoming battle was the most dangerous they had to face until now, they knew with the help of their friends they could turn the tables, secure the control of the Titanium Triangle and bring their friends back home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay in posting recently! Don't worry the story is finished and will be posted completely! I just had a quite stressful time at work over summer and will try to keep posting more regulary from now on!


	8. Chapter 8

With a sigh Reo dropped at the backrest of his chair after he had tried to make out the different ingredients of the capsule, but with just one capsule it was quite hard to analyze, because he didn’t have enough material to work on. Through all the years at Mugen he had learnt different skills and they were not just connected to fighting. Working together with Sakurai and Takizawa sometimes had helped him getting information about other useful skills as well and as Domoto’s right hand no one would actually dare to refuse him a favor, so the chemistry stuff he had in his room was also thanks to one of those favors.

When there was a knock on the door he hurried to let the things on his desk vanish into the next drawer.

“Who is it?”

“If I tell you, you might not want to let me in.”

Reo rolled his eyes on that and moved towards the door, opening it with a fast movement on which the other one flinched.

“I can tell who it is on your voice, you know?”

“Oh, right,” Juri let out kind of apologizing as he put his hand to the back of his head with an awkward expression.

“What is it by the way? Why shouldn’t I let you in?”

“You know, the thing is-”

Loud shouting at the end of the corridor interrupted him and Reo rolled his eyes in annoyance as he knew of course who it was coming from.

“Again?”

“We tried to keep them away from each other, but with all of us being in the hideout it’s a bit complicated.”

Reo was about to ask if they couldn’t handle it themselves, but then there was the sound of things shattering and he let out a growl heading towards the small common room that was placed around the backstage area.

When he entered the room he had to duck right away as a glass came flying his way, unfortunately Juri hadn’t been that fast and it hit him in the face. The boy let out a pained yelp as he turned away his face and luckily he didn’t get badly hurt even though the glass cut his skin a little bit.

“Guys, cut the crap out!” Reo hissed at Hagiya and Aran which were not even spending him or Kochi and Ren which were in the room as well any attention. They had obviously already used plates, glasses and also chairs to attack each other, but now they went down on the ground, wrestling around while trying to not get punched by the other one.

“Damnit, why do I have to take care of you kids?”

“Hey, we didn’t do anything and you are not the oldest here,” Ren interfered while Kochi just stepped over the two fighting ones to take a look at Juri’s injury.

“But I am the one getting into trouble the most if you do stupid things like trying to kill each other.”

Exactly the moment Reo said that Hagiya got a grip on a shattered piece of a plate and tried to attack Aran with it, but Reo was faster and kicked it out of his hand before he forced him off the other boy.

“And here I thought you were the mature one here. Hagiya cut the shit out or I will make sure that Takizawa and Yara will get to know about your recent freak-outs.”

“You are not the boss here Reo and this has nothing to do with you, so get lost,” Hagiya growled before he wanted to pass him, but Ren had pulled Aran away already and the boy was back on his feet. To everyone’s surprise Reo suddenly grabbed Hagiya by the collar and shoved him against the wall, his elbow keeping the boy from breathing.

“I might not be one of the three leaders, but trust me no one would even scold me if I get rid of you right here, right now, so think twice before you address me like this again!”

At first Hagiya tried to struggle, but it was clear that Reo was more than serious about what he had said as he added even more pressure until Hagiya started coughing and hit with his hand against the boy’s arm.

“Got it, got it! Let go!”

When Reo released him the boy fell to the ground and coughed a few times before he was able to take a deep breath.

“If Aran wanted to betray us just like this don’t you think he would have used his technique on you? You wouldn’t stand a chance against him for even a minute if he fought serious, but the fact that he doesn’t do it shows that you are the problem here and not him!”

That statement actually made Hagiya look up at him with a death glare, but when Reo stepped closer on that again he looked to the ground with an apologizing, but still annoyed look.

“I make this clear for all of you,” Reo started as he faced the other boys in the room. “You betray us, you die! That’s nothing new for any of us, most of you entered together with me and you know that they don’t care if they have to kill you or not! So do me the favor and keep the drama away inside our own rows! We have enough trouble already we don’t need to start doubting each other!”

After his speech Reo left the room without another word, but instead of heading towards his room he wanted to go outside for a while. He was in the need of fresh air to calm down that was clear. It wasn’t like he had done something he wasn’t allowed to and all of them knew that, but he didn’t like it when he had to play the perfect puppet when it wasn’t for Taiga’s sake. But like this they would at least believe that he was completely back to his emotionless self.

When he walked up the stairs towards the stage he halted when he heard voices and he hid behind the curtain before he took a careful look around the corner.

“You already made him take two capsules in the morning and he didn’t refuse?”

“He is sceptic like always, but his condition is slowly changing. Unfortunately I think with one capsule it will take too long.”

Reo kept hiding while he listened to Domoto and Sakurai. Soon he saw another bottle with the red capsules Taiga was taking, in Sakurai’s hand.

“The boy is not stupid. With him refusing to take them before he showed us that he knows that they are drugs and no medicine or at least he knows that they are definitely not for his wound,” Domoto let out on which Reo gritted his teeth. So they were right after all, but who would be surprised?

“Okay, fine. Give him the double of the doze from now on. Two in the morning and two in the evening. His condition will change drastically through that. So either he will freak completely on that or he will be so far gone that he doesn’t even care anymore. But either way you have to make sure that he stands the new doze. I am not joking when I say it could kill him in the worst case,” Sakurai warned him as he handed Domoto the bottle.

“I’ve the feeling his stubbornness will make him survive through this as well,” Domoto let out in amusement and just for a brief moment Reo was angry enough to consider dashing out of his hiding place and burn those stupid drugs together with the whole hideout down and maybe he should have just done so, but when they started moving towards his direction, he made sure to hide in a corner to not be seen until they were out of sight.

Now the question was just what he should do with the new information. There were still some open questions and though he decided to take a walk after all. He had his sources at the Storm Warriors as well, so for now he would head to their hideout and try to get some more information from them.

***

The sigh Kentaro let out when he stepped out Nikaido’s bathroom, dressed in lose pants and one of Nikaido’s shirts, had a lot of reasons, but the main one was definitely the muscle pain which wasn’t stopping for days already since they had started their training. At the same time they had also started patrols around the area, exchanging information with other fight clubs and the Titanium Triangle while keeping watch if any Avernus members were already on the move.

“I’d say you need a day out on patrol tomorrow, instead of in the ring,” Nikaido said with a faint smile as he was already sitting on the bed, obviously as exhausted as the boy.

“I should ask Nakai for permission for a patrol then,” Kentaro let out in a tired voice as he sat down at the edge of the bed and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Come on, let’s just sleep for now. We all need time to rest and today is not our night shift.”

Nikaido reached out for the boy’s shoulder and he actually crawled more on the bed on that move, but sat down on his knees next to the older one instead of lying down.

“Everything alright?” The older one asked a bit worried, but instead of replying Kentaro leant to the front and put his hands on the latter’s shoulder. Nikaido was leaning at the backrest already, so he couldn’t actually get pushed anywhere, but Kentaro used that to his advantage and trapped him there as he crawled on top of him before he leant down to give Nikaido a rushed kiss. It wasn’t deep, nor did it last for long and they didn’t speak when Kentaro backed off with a weird expression before he wanted to lean forward again, but as he had somehow already expected Nikaido put his hand on his chest to stop him.

“Don’t force yourself to do something you can’t handle at the moment.”

“But…” Kentaro’s try of making Nikaido believe that everything was alright ended with him realizing that there was not a single good reason to pretend that it was, when it obviously wasn’t. “I just feel like I am doing everything wrong at the moment and it doesn’t feel right to annoy you with my problems when my presence is not of any use for you in the first place.”

When Nikaido suddenly hit him against the forehead the boy put his own hand up to it with a confused expression, especially because Nikaido didn’t seem like he wanted to scold him.

“If you think that you are just “of use” as you call it, to me at moments like this then I think something went extremely wrong in our relationship.”

It was obviously a joke and still Kentaro’s look darkened, after all he had brought enough emotional chaos upon Nikaido already, so he felt extremely unsecure around him and of course the older one had noticed.

“Come here,” Nikaido said as he pushed the boy carefully off him, but pulled him with his back against his chest at the same time and Kentaro couldn’t deny that he liked it a lot just to have him close like this. “Better?”

“Way better,” Kentaro let out in a low voice as searched for the latter’s hand and entwined their fingers while Nikaido squeezed him even tighter against his body with his other arm around his hips. That actually made the boy finally chuckle and he felt how he could actually relax a little bit again.

“I’m sorry that I always create chaos and can’t take care of it myself in the end.”

“Mh, I’d say until now we both managed to create the same amount of chaos, but we also succeeded in somehow taking care of it in the end as well.”

“But what if I won’t succeed this time?”

When there was no reply for a moment Kentaro wanted to turn around in the other one’s arms, but Nikaido wouldn’t let him. Instead he closed his arms a bit tighter around him as he rested his chin on the other one’s hair.

“You will eventually be able to solve things that is for sure, but how you do that is your own decision and I’ve no right to influence you, it wouldn’t be fair. This time all I can do is telling you again as I did before that I will always be here for you as long as you want me to wait.”

“I know and thank you. I would love to give you an answer on that right away, especially because after what we have gone through I am not even sure how you can sacrifice yourself for me like this…”

“Sacrifice?” This time Nikaido was the one who moved to make the other one turn around in his arms so they would face each other and Kentaro didn’t dare to look away, even though he was afraid of getting scolded. “Okay, let me make this clear once and for all, because I’ve the feeling we are tiptoeing around the topic, trying to not voice things out directly, but like this you always end up talking nonsense.”

Kentaro opened his mouth, but Nikaido silenced him with a stern look on which the boy lowered his eyes.

“You slept with Aran and even though you had a lot going on at that time with your unsolved problems of your past together, the fact that you betrayed me on that day remains the same.”

Those words actually hit Kentaro like a knife through the chest and he tensed, but the other one didn’t remove his arms around him and Kentaro could feel how he was still looking at him, but he didn’t dare to return his look.

“But you know what? I made you believe I was dead! I left you behind and didn’t care in how much trouble you could get through trying to find me. You got shot right in front of my eyes and I didn’t help you, I didn’t even try to catch you. I lost you on that day and without our friends I would have lost you for good. Don’t you think that if you see me staying at your side as a sacrifice that you’ve made the same sacrifice long ago? While I can just wait for you, you fought for me! You risked your life for me, even though I’ve hurt you a lot!”

When Kentaro still refused to look up Nikaido put his hand under the boy’s chin and reluctantly the younger one finally searched for the other one’s eyes and he wasn’t even surprised to find nothing but understanding and support in the latter’s look. Getting reminded of how he felt at that time and how close he was to give up, it showed him how important he was to Nikaido and he never felt happier, especially because they definitely shared an even bond and that was something he should never forget.

“Did I make myself clear?”

On that Kentaro just nodded before Nikaido pulled him even closer resulting in Kentaro resting his forehead against the latter’s chest.

“I love you,” Kentaro whispered on which the latter’s grip got tighter. It came totally natural for him to voice out his feelings, because they weren’t a lie after all and when he heard the same words from the older one he could finally give his racing thoughts a break for some time.

***

Give him two of the capsules was what Domoto had said when he had left the hideout with a lot of members out of a sudden and of course Reo knew what they were up to and a part of him felt extremely proud that he had been able to fool Domoto that easily. After all those years the man didn’t seem to realize that there was still a fire burning inside Reo, which was slowly breaking free thanks to Taiga. But for now he used his new gained trust and entered Domoto’s room where Taiga was just coming out of the bathroom as the boy locked the door behind him.

“Domoto seemed in a hurry, did something happen?” Taiga asked as he sat down at the edge of the bed where Reo joined him with a troubled expression.

“Right...I shouldn’t ask things like that anymore. I’ve messed up enough through spilling out things you’ve told me which you shouldn’t,” Taiga said apologizing.

Without saying anything else Reo sat even closer to the boy, but Taiga didn’t seem to realize or he didn’t mind, but that was exactly what Reo had to find out. Just the night before he had gotten the information he had been looking for, but unfortunately it was exactly what he had feared, but because it was Domoto it was also no surprise that he tried such a weird drug on Taiga.

“Any change with the side effects?”

Taiga shrugged his shoulders on that and it was almost scary how indifferent his look was when it came to that topic.

“Seems like they really get better after a few days, so nothing to worry about anymore I guess.”

Nothing to worry about? Reo blinked a few times before he dared to reach out for the other one’s face and put his hand on his cheek to make him turn his head towards his direction. Still no negative reaction. It had been just a few days since Reo had been just the second day with the double of the dose, but it gave him shivers how they seemed to finally do what they were meant to do.

“Do you even realize the state you are in?” Reo asked on which Taiga blinked at him in confusion before he tilted his head with a weird smile.

“In a better one than a few days ago I’d say?”

“Really? Then take the capsules, you’ve to take three this time,” Reo lied in a snappy voice which would normally make Taiga angry right away, but again nothing changed.

“Okay,” was the only reply he received and when Taiga wanted to shift away from him to get the capsules Reo cursed and pulled the boy back. Even when he pushed him down on the covers and pinned his hands over his head the boy didn’t seem in the slightest offended by his actions, maybe just a little bit surprised.

“Ehm, what are you doing?”

The calm way Taiga asked him made the boy freak even more and he moved one hand under Taiga’s chin while he kept a hold on his wrists with the other one and who was he kidding it was clear that he didn’t even need to hold him down in his state.

“The question is what are you NOT doing? But I guess it’s easier to show you so that you’ll start fighting against those stupid effects the capsules have on you.”

Before Taiga could say something again Reo had leant down to kiss him and he wasn’t careful at all. His grip around his chin was tight and he even dared his tongue out right away and as much as he wanted the boy to snap out of it right away he couldn’t even feel guilty of the sudden wave of pleasure that went through his body when Taiga responded to his kiss and opened his mouth in the progress to deepen it.

Even though it was Taiga who needed to be reminded that this was actually wrong, Reo couldn’t deny that he was extremely close to just ignore the fact that is was wrong in the first place. Especially when it was Taiga who suddenly freed one of his hands, but not to push him away, instead his hand landed in the boy’s hair and pulled him closer on which Reo let out a low moan into the kiss, which resulted in Taiga slightly moving his hips upwards. It was a clear warning that things would escalate if Reo decided to take advantage of Taiga’s clouded mind, not that he wasn’t doing so already.

“Taiga, don’t.” The sound of Reo’s voice was almost begging, as if he was the one fighting against himself and not Taiga. When Reo tried to push himself up Taiga was able to free his other arm as well and he pulled the boy down with his arms around his neck. “Think about what you are doing! Come on Taiga, does anything of this seem right to you?”

“It seems to feel right to you, doesn’t it?”

“That’s not-” what he wanted to discuss, but when Taiga suddenly lifted himself a bit up and attacked the boy’s neck with his teeth all of Reo’s good will to talk things through were gone in an instant and he allowed his body to relax a bit more as he gave Taiga better access to his skin while he caught his own hands moving slightly shaking under the boy’s shirt on which Taiga let out a low moan against the boy’s skin.

It took Reo a tremendous effort to get back in control of his own actions, but when he realized that his hands had traveled lower to Taiga’s pants and the boy still didn’t make any move to protest he knew that he was already too far gone to talk things through. He wouldn’t get the meaning of his words anyways, so the only thing he could actually do was the one thing he didn’t want to do.

“Please don’t hate me after this…” Reo whispered on which Taiga seemed to tense a bit, but before he could react Reo had sat up and without giving his own body any chance to protest he ripped Taiga’s shirt in half making the latter’s eyes grow wide, but there was still no other reaction.

With his next move Reo leant down again, but this time he pulled harshly on Taiga’s short hair to make him bend his head backwards as he gave him another kiss, forcing his tongue into his mouth right away and finally there was a slight moment of resistance. Maybe still just a try to make the younger one take it slower, but that wasn’t the problem and Reo was determined to continue until Taiga would finally see that.

It was when Reo blindly reached out for the boy’s pants that there was more reaction from Taiga. Especially because Reo didn’t allow him at all to move the way he wanted. He decided when he would get a break for air, where his hands were allowed and where not, and if he wanted to take it further or not wasn’t his choice either.

“Reo, wait.”

Finally something he wanted to hear, but it was still too indifferent to count as awareness and he forced himself to ignore the way Taiga suddenly tried to push him up on his shoulders. When Taiga turned his face away the next time he tried to kiss him Reo just moved his lips down to the boy’s neck while he had pulled Taiga’s pants down a bit already. With shaking hands Taiga suddenly took a grip on the boy’s wrists, trying to make him let go and Reo could just hope that he didn’t need to take it much further until Taiga would finally snap out of it.

“Please, Reo, calm down.”

“Calm down? You know what?” Reo suddenly pulled back and lifted Taiga’s head up with a harsh pull on his hair at the same time, making the other one gasp. “If you want to behave like a puppet then do so, but let me tell you puppets don’t speak, they obey! So shut up and let me play with you!”

His own words hurt himself as much as he had never though they could and even though he didn’t want to he needed to halt his movements for a brief moment as Taiga’s look was piercing him with so much disbelieve and doubt that he was sure Taiga would never forgive him, but exactly that kind of reaction was what he needed to make the boy find back to reality so he forced himself to look away.

This time he crawled down a bit and tried to get rid of the boy’s pants, but when one of his hands landed on the boy’s underwear Taiga took a strong hold of his arms this time.

“Stop!”

Finally no begging, no asking. A clear order!

“Make me!”

Just a bit more, so Reo shook the boy’s hands off, but this time Taiga started struggling for real and soon they ended up in a fight where Reo tried to get a grip on Taiga’s arms to hold him down while the older one tried to twist away, but Reo wouldn’t make it that easy for him and he kept touching him, trying to strip him out of his clothes until there was a scream from Taiga which made the boy jolt like never before.

The moment Taiga screamed out he also turned around to face Reo and he slashed him with his fingers over the face, leaving some claw marks with his nails on the boy’s skin.

Their struggle stopped immediately on that action and the only thing that was heard for a while was their erratic breathing.

Reo was the first one, who dared to move, but he did it as careful and slowly as possible and he got off the boy, sitting down next to him with an almost scared expression. Taiga wasn’t looking much better than him, but at least there were emotions visible on his face now, even though Reo was anything but proud of being the reason for pushing Taiga so close to the edge.

When Taiga looked up at him Reo looked away immediately, not able to face him. He bit his lip while clawing his hands into the sheets as they didn’t want to stop shaking.

“It’s no medicine…” Reo started in a shaking voice and as Taiga didn’t interrupt him he took a deep breath to be able to continue. “They are drugs used to make people obedient. Sakurai had used them before on people when he needed information, but then he figured out that they were even more effective in a different way. But they have heavy side effects as you have experienced yourself and it takes some time until the wished effect will show, but when it does it happens immediately and it is hard to make the person realize what is happening. It’s like they are trapped behind a glass wall which needs to be shattered to make them snap out of it.”

Again silence followed and there was so much more Reo wanted to say. How badly he wanted to apologize for what he had just done, but he felt the need to stay silent and wait for Taiga’s reaction first.

It was when the silence got unbearable that Reo dared to look at the boy again and he got slightly worried when he kept staring at the ceiling.

“Taiga, please stay with me! I can’t go through the same again! Please, I can’t do anything like this to you ever again!”

“And I won’t give you a reason for it I promise.”

This time Reo didn’t look away when Taiga faced him and all he wanted to do was to make everything undone, because as much as Taiga seemed to understand that it had been necessary there was so much pain and so much fear in his eyes all of a sudden that Reo felt like he could never make up for what he had just done. Not to forget that he had seen Taiga almost crumbling through his memories before and now he had to take advantage of them in the worst way possible.

On shaking legs Reo got up all of a sudden, making the older one look at him skeptical, but Reo ignored him as he moved to get the bottle and he took two of the capsules out before vanishing into the bathroom for a moment. After Taiga heard the sound of the flush Reo appeared in the room again, but he didn’t even walk close to the bed. He headed right for the door, a still troubled expression all over his face.

“You’ve seen what they can do and I swear I’ll find a way we can get rid of them completely, but until then…” Reo paused, because once more he had to do something he didn’t want to, but was there another way?

“Until then I will pretend in front of Domoto that I am still taking them,” Taiga ended his sentence. Reo nodded on that and reached out for the doorknob, but Taiga called out for him once more on which the boy halted even though everything inside of him screamed to get out. Now it was his time to get a breakdown for once in a while and he didn’t want to do so in front of Taiga, after all the boy needed to take care of his own problems right now and with Reo being the cause for it he shouldn’t be with him for a while.

“Don’t worry, I will succeed in not crossing the border. Thank you for shattering that glass wall when I wasn’t able to.”

“Don’t thank me for this,” Reo replied while he kept facing the door. “But please also don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you,” Taiga let out in a steady voice on which Reo rushed out the door without turning around again.

Both boys needed a while alone and with almost all other members on the move at the moment Reo allowed himself to vanish into his room for the rest of the day to let the mess he had just created crush him for now. Things would get better eventually he was sure of that and he also knew that Taiga didn’t just tell him that he would forgive him so he would feel better. Taiga was the type to forgive and just because he had known that from the start he had actually dared to reach out for him and break that wall, even though he had put a new one up instead.


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn’t like Kentaro didn’t feel relieved that he had been allowed in the morning to patrol instead of attending training, but the fact that Nikaido hadn’t come with him made him feel down again.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t just go back and rest?” Shintaro was heard next to him and Kentaro needed a moment to realize that the question was meant for him. But the only other person with them was Watanabe who had almost been forced to take a break from training, but after all he didn’t like it to be told to take a break through an injury.

“It’s not like I could sleep anyways and just rolling around in bed is not helping anyone,” Kentaro let out together with a sigh on which Watanabe hit him on the back which made Kentaro almost stumble to the front. “What was that for?”

“Waking you up from your moody attitude.”

“Oh and hitting me will help with that or what?” Kentaro pouted, but that reaction made Shintaro laugh on which he raised an eyebrow at him.

“See? Now you are definitely a lot livelier than before,” Watanabe let out with a chuckle on which Kentaro shook his head, but instead of falling silent again he reached out for both boys’ arms and pinched them on which both yelped and pulled back.

“Okay, maybe you shouldn’t have hit him, now we have to deal with his angry mood instead,” Shintaro let out while rubbing his arm, but then there was actually a chuckle from Kentaro on which the other two looked at each other with a smile.

“You are such idiots,” Kentaro let out and walked to the front, but they had both seen his smile and they were happy that they had been able to brighten up his mood a bit.

“It worked with Saku as well all the time,” Watanabe told Shintaro as they followed the boy.

“You are worrying a lot for him, right?”

“At least we know that he is alive and with him knowing that we are here to get him out I am sure he will do his best to stay strong until we can drag him out.”

“I hope Taiga can do so as well,” Shintaro let out in a worried tone on which Watanabe squeezed his shoulder.

“He fought his best friend and threw himself in front of another friend to rescue him. He is still fighting with all his might and I know he can win! I don’t know him for that long, but meeting all his friends I am sure they all share the same stubbornness.”

“Also true,” Shintaro replied with a faint smile.

They followed Kentaro in silence for a while until there was a huge impact heard somewhere near them and all of the boys jolted, looking around in panic, but for a moment they couldn’t see or hear anything else until there was a second impact and soon they saw smoke rising from a place not too far away from them.

“Kentaro, wait!” Watanabe shouted after the boy as he dashed towards the direction of the smoke without hesitation. “Damn it how was that about their stubbornness?”

Without having a chance of stopping him the other two boys dashed after him. It was daytime and they hadn’t actually thought of any kind of attack happening, which was actually why Ueda and Nikaido had let them go alone.

When Kentaro came closer to the place he sped up as he realized which area they were entering. So Mugen had just waited until they would let their guard down and attack directly at one of the pillars of the Underground, the Titanium Triangle.

Without even thinking of any kind of plan Kentaro dashed around the last corner before the Fire Foxes hideout came into his sight, but he stopped dead on his tracks, making the other two almost bump into him as they caught up to him.

“Oh god, what happened here?” Shintaro let out in disbelieve and Watanabe kept staring at the half destroyed building which was ready to collapse. There were a lot of trucks in front of it and many Avernus and Fire Foxes member fighting and shouting.

A huge sound from their right made the boys jolt again and the next moment they saw what had caused the first two impacts as they saw the rocket launcher on the back of one of the trucks. The new impact broke another wall apart and there were screams heard when some people got buried under the falling stones. They didn’t even seem to care that their own people were in danger as well.

When they got ready to launch it again Kentaro cursed and dashed towards the truck from behind. Their backs were unprotected for now and they should use their chance of a surprise attack as long as they were still undiscovered.

The other two got his plan right away and followed him and they jumped on the truck from three angles, first getting rid of a few people who were actually supposed to protect it, but as expected they hadn’t seen them coming from behind.

“Get them!” Someone else was heard next to the truck, which meant they got discovered and didn’t have much time left. While Watanabe and Shintaro aimed for the person holding the launcher, Kentaro jumped off the truck to stop the members approaching them.

He couldn’t stop them all, so soon Watanabe had to fight off those which jumped on the truck while Shintaro had started struggling with the person holding the launcher.

Not being able to stand a chance against all the opponents on his own, Kentaro soon got a few heavy blows and when he got a kick in the back he ended up on the ground.

Sure they were officially protected through the tournament outcome, but they were attacking this time, so the Avernus members had the right to fight back.

“Kill him,” a man ordered while he pointed at Kentaro before he turned to the truck with some other members. Kentaro had barely time to look up before a gun was pointed at him and the shot fell right away, but missed him by inches as the other one’s arm was pulled up at the last moment.

The person that had appeared between the Avernus members threw the other one over his shoulder and took the gun out of his hand, using it to shoot some of the other members, while three other people jumped next to him to help.

“Are you alright?”

It was Daiki who helped him up to his feet, while Inoo and Hikaru kept fighting off as many people as they could. When the gun was empty Kitayama threw it away and drew out a knife to attack.

“Thank you. Can you stand a chance against them?” Kentaro asked in worry and Daiki shook his head while gritting his teeth.

“The attack came too sudden and a lot of our members lost their lives before we could even fight them directly. Those cowards!” Daiki seemed extremely shaken by the sudden attack and who wouldn’t when two bombs were launched at them out of nowhere?

“Boys, move!” Kitayama suddenly shouted at them as he pushed them more to the back as they got more and more outnumbered.

“What if we send someone to Kamenashi? We could also get the fight club members?” Kentaro shouted behind him, but the latter shook his head.

“We already let some members inform Kamenashi, but they won’t be able to make it in time. When they arrive everything will be over already.”

That actually made Kentaro’s stomach turn, because how could they have ended up in such a mess, after they had actually all been ready to fight? But who would have thought that they would attack at daytime and especially with so many weapons? It wasn’t just the rocket launcher, but a lot of machine guns they could hear around them and the screams made it hard for Kentaro to remain calm. He had seen a lot people die in the war, but seeing it happen again and with him and his friends being directly involved he couldn’t stand the scene in front of him for long. But he was ripped out of his thoughts when the next gunshots were extremely close to them.

“Get down!” Hikaru was heard out of a sudden and when Kentaro was dragged to the ground by Daiki there were more screams and suddenly also more explosions, smaller ones, but a lot.

“Grenades? Are they serious?” Inoo let out in disgust, but Kentaro was slowly getting up again, ignoring the others as his look fell on some Avernus members fighting in front of them.

There were too many faces he could recognize and finding Kochi and Juri among them wasn’t actually pleasant for him, but they fought different than most of the others. They carried no weapons and seemed to just knock people out instead of killing them. But then his look fell on Aran who was close by as well, holding a gun and shot everyone who came into his way, not even bothering with anyone begging for mercy.

Around them he could also spot Takizawa, Sakurai and a lot of the other members he had seen at the tournament, but his eyes were following Aran while his body wanted to move forward, to slap that stupid gun out of his hand and hit him as often as it would take to make him return to the person he once was.

“WATCH OUT!” Kitayama shouted at all of them and luckily Kentaro was still concentrated enough to realize that a grenade had landed between them all and they all jumped away, but the impact still made them crush into the ground.

Through the smoke and continuing attacks Kentaro had lost sight of the others and he looked towards the truck, relieved when he realized that Watanabe and Shintaro were fine, at least until now, but even though they had succeeded in getting everyone away from the truck for now, they had a hard time fighting all the other approaching members off.

“Oh what a surprise.”

The sound of his voice made Kentaro freeze for a moment and while his body told him to jump up and run all he could do was slowly look over his shoulder, where he found Domoto smiling down on him.

How could this man always have such a calm aura? People were dying around him, his own members as well, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

“I wonder why you decided to fight instead of just taking my offer to stay out of everything,” Domoto asked with an entertained expression while Kentaro finally got up, even though he could feel how his body was shaking through the hard impact from before.

“You know why we are fighting! As if we would let someone like you take control of the Underground! And as long as you don’t return Taiga to us we will keep fighting forever.”

“Oh, such a confidence, I like that.”

Kentaro hesitated for a moment, because he wasn’t sure if it was a smart move to attack the leader directly. After all he didn’t know how strong he was and if he had any weapons hidden under his coat which was as always way too flashy for his surroundings.

“What if I offered you to see him?”

That question made Kentaro stare at him in confusion, because they were in the middle of a civil war, they could get killed any second and here he was asking him weird questions?

“What do you mean?”

“Come with me and I let you see him.”

“Right, as if you would just let me walk inside your hideout and let me meet him.”

“Oh I would. I offered it to you just now and I am not lying when it comes to such matters, but there is a condition.”

Of course there was. Kentaro didn’t miss how the leader’s look had turned into something challenging and dangerous.

“Which would be?”

“You have to stay. It’s an invitation without return. As I said I like your attitude and I offer you to become a member of Mugen.”

Kentaro opened his mouth to decline right away, because it was more than a ridiculous thing to offer, but then he halted. What would happen if he agreed? It would give them the chance to get closer to Taiga and also to Saku and even though he wouldn’t be able to get out that easily again it would maybe help them to be able to attack. And he could also talk to Aran without the boy being able to run away. He gritted his teeth and looked to the ground for a moment, because it was just ridiculous to think about it, but then there was a chuckle and Domoto’s hand under his chin, lifting it up to make him look at him.

“Don’t you want to see your friend again? Not many people get the chance to join Avernus now that everyone has already decided for a side. So what is your answer?”

It took Kentaro a few moments longer to make his thoughts stop racing and he faced the leader with a determined look on which the older one already formed a triumphing smile, but before he could answer someone jumped in between them, slapping Domoto’s arm away and shoving Kentaro to the back.

“Whatever you are up to, I won’t let you lay a hand on him. Trust me there are enough people which will skin you alive if you hurt him,” Kitayama let out while facing the leader.

“Oh trust me I believe that, I had that feeling at the tournament already. But who said that I wanted to hurt him?”

That actually made Kitayama look at him in slight confusion, but before they could talk again more Mugen members had appeared around them and while they jumped at them Domoto retreated behind them.

“Kentaro, take your friends and get out!” Kitayama shouted at him as they had to retreat even further while the fighting around the half destroyed hideout seemed to get quieter which wasn’t a good sign.

“No chance, as if I left you all behind here!” Kentaro complained, but Kitayama pushed him away even further.

“I said go!” He shouted again and Kentaro had to back away from him on his own as someone attack him. Soon he ended up in the middle of the fighting again, more Avernus members around him than Fire Foxes.

With a curse he brought some of them to the ground and tried to fight his way back to the others to help, but he stumbled backwards after he had fought off another one and his back collided with someone else.

Both of them swirled around, Kentaro lifting his fist while the other one lifted a gun, but then they both froze.

“Aran…” Kentaro let out in a low whisper, while the other one lowered the gun immediately.

“What the hell are you doing here? Get out of here! You have nothing to do with this fight!” Aran shouted at him and pushed him backwards on his shoulders and tried to dash away from him, but Kentaro got a grip on his wrist.

“Please Aran, come with me! I don’t want to fight you, but I can’t just let you run around and kill people like this,” Kentaro begged, but suddenly he was pulled away from another Avernus member and he saw how he drew a knife and tried to stab him, but the attack got stopped by Aran who used his technique to make the other one crumble to the ground.

“What did you do? If they see you attacking your own members they will kill you!” Kentaro let out as he tried again to get a grip on the boy, but he backed away.

“If you don’t want me to get killed, then leave! If you are not around I have no reason to rebel against any orders.”

With that Aran turned away and Kentaro wanted to reach out for him, but then there was loud shouting behind him.

“Get him away from the truck! Shintaro, stop him!” Watanabe was heard and Kentaro turned towards them, but when he saw what was happening it was already too late.

Someone had gotten a grip on the rocket launcher, but Watanabe was busy with fighting against the members which had circled around them and Shintaro reached out for the launcher at the last moment, but the only thing he could do was redirect the attack, but while he tried to make it launch upwards, the other one pulled it down and when it launched it was directed directly towards the area Kentaro was standing at.

Everything happened too fast to even be able to react. Kentaro couldn’t remember which was first, but there was the impact somewhere around him, but also another movement which made him fall backwards and then he just remembered getting thrown into the air and crashing into the ground several meters away. But the impact hadn’t been as hard as he thought it would be, but even though he tried to open his eyes he could just see blurry pictures in front of him. His hearing could just trace some shouting around him, which was swallowed by an annoying ringing in his ears.

Then he realized that it was hard for him to breath and he tried to move his arms, reaching out for his chest, but what he found was another body on top of his.

Desperately he tried to clear his vision, but his body was fighting towards the other direction, making it hard for him to stay conscious.

“Such an idiot!” Someone was heard next to him.

“Please don’t tell me they are dead,” someone else let out worried, but all Kentaro could see were shadows moving around him.

“No they are both breathing. Let’s take him and leave.”

“What, you want to leave Kentaro behind like this? What if he dies in his condition?”

“Idiot, the sooner we are gone the sooner they can take care of him. So move, because if Hagiya finds out what he did it will be his death sentence.”

With that the body on top of him was lifted up and even though Kentaro could finally breathe more easily now his body started feeling even heavier and without a chance of looking after the people which were leaving, he blacked out.

***

Half of the day had barely passed and Taiga was still in a pretty shaken state when Domoto suddenly entered the room and he left the door wide open while he threw his in dust covered coat over the chair of the desk.

Taiga heard a lot of shouting from outside and when he looked towards the corridor he saw how Ren was running towards Reo’s room and banged on the door. When the boy opened they exchanged a few words which Taiga couldn’t hear and Reo dashed out his room the moment some of the others got in sight at the end of the corridor.

Sakurai entered a room to his left, followed by Kochi and in shock Taiga realized that Juri was carrying Aran on his back, the boy covered in blood. Reo and Ren followed into the room they just vanished to, but before he could see more Domoto went back to the door and shut it.

“I hope you didn’t cause Reo too much trouble while we were gone?” Domoto asked in a calm voice on which Taiga wanted to reply with a snappy answer, but at the last moment he held back, remembering that he couldn’t actually blame it on the drug anymore, so Domoto would figure out quite fast that he knew about it if he didn’t watch out.

“All good. But it doesn’t seem like whatever you had planned went that well?” Taiga asked in return, still remaining seated on the bed, while Domoto tossed his also dirty shirt on the chair before he already took a few steps towards the bathroom.

“No, actually it went quite well. We didn’t get everyone we aimed for, but it was definitely our win today.” With that Domoto was about to enter the bathroom and Taiga would actually need a few more minutes alone to be able to get his head clear enough to be able to act like the drug should make him act. “Oh, by the way. I met your little friend earlier as well.”

“Who do you mean?” Taiga asked.

“The one you fought at the tournament.”

“What? You said you wouldn’t attack the North Tokyo Fight Club!” Taiga hissed at him and got ready to get up, but when Domoto turned towards him with a raised eyebrow Taiga halted, realizing his mistake and he tried desperately to calm down.

“We didn’t, we actually aimed for the Fire Foxes, but it seems like he and a few of your friends came to help them. I’d say it was more or less a coincidence, but it gave me the chance to ask your friend if he wanted to join us, what a shame that I never got to hear his answer. He was a quite interesting little fellow.”

“What do you mean you never got to hear his answer…?” Taiga whispered, not able to voice the question out louder, as if he feared the words could hurt him.

“He unfortunately ended up in the center of an explosion, but a lot of our people did as well, that was when we decided to retreat for now. What a shame, right?”

This time Taiga didn’t even have to act, because the shock was big enough to make him unable to freak out. He just nodded as if it was a normal question he didn’t know another answer than yes or no to.

Seeming satisfied with Taiga’s calm reaction Domoto vanished into the bathroom, leaving Taiga behind in a state of shock.

“It can’t be true…” Taiga whispered and started shaking his head. His breathing pace suddenly got faster and he pulled up his legs, clenching his hands into his hair, while he tried desperately not to scream.

But then from one second to the other he calmed down again. What if it was a trap? Another game? There was no need to overreact before he didn’t know for sure that what he had been told was the truth. If Reo told him the same later then he could still get the breakdown of his life, but wouldn’t he lose the game right away if he gave up right from the start?

With a few deep breathes he calmed down again and he remained with his eyes closed on the bed for a moment longer, while he heard the shower running from the bathroom.

When he opened his eyes again he looked at the desk, still disgusted by the wooden furniture he stood up and approached it. His look fell on Domoto’s coat first and then to something that was lying next to it on the ground.

Taiga picked it up and realized that it was a key. Did it fall out of the pocket when he had tossed it over the chair? Just the size of it told Taiga already that it wasn’t for the door and then something clicked in his head and he hurried to push the chair to the side and find the keyhole of the locked drawer and it opened!

Not losing any time he opened it, finding a few documents in it which were definitely important to Avernus, but to no use for him. Lifting them up he froze as he found a gun underneath them and next to it a knife. He was about to lift up the gun to check if there were bullets in it when he realized that the sound of the shower had stopped. Had it just stopped? Or already some time ago?

Not knowing how much time he had left until Domoto would discover him he drew out the knife and tossed the papers back on top before he locked the drawer.

With fast steps he went to his side of the bed and let the knife vanish under the mattress and when the bathroom door opened he realized too late that he still had the key in his hand, so he let it vanish into his pocket at the very last moment.

The leader had changed into new clothes and didn’t spend him that much attention as he walked over to the desk which made Taiga tense for a moment, but all he did was taking the clothes from the chair, but then he halted for a moment and Taiga held his breath.

Slowly Domoto turned to him and Taiga realized too late that he was staring back at him.

“You seem restless,” the leader let out and who could blame him, Taiga was standing next to the bed without any specific reason. Now he needed to get an excuse, but somehow nothing would come to his mind, but luckily there was no need to when Domoto suddenly chuckled.

“But who can blame you. You are in this room for weeks now. I know it’s not the best timing with everything being that noisy around the hideout today, but what would you say to a small walk around?”

That was actually something Taiga wouldn’t be able to refuse in whichever weird state he was in and he nodded almost immediately to Domoto’s obvious satisfaction as he walked over to the door and opened it with an inviting move of his hand.

“After you.”

Even though Taiga had walked around the hideout quite often before it felt like entering a new area as he walked down the corridor, Domoto walking behind him with a calm expression on his face.

“Would you excuse me for a moment?” Domoto said as they had reached the end of the corridor and Taiga realized that the room everyone else had vanished inside before was right next to them. Taiga nodded and of course there were a few members standing alongside the corridor, taking a look at him while Domoto entered the room.

To both their surprise Ren almost collided with Domoto as he wanted to leave the room the same moment he entered and Domoto stepped out the way while Ren stumbled to the front as he had tried to avoid bumping into the leader.

Taiga reached out automatically to catch the boy, but he hadn’t been fast enough and both of them landed on the ground in a sitting position, but that was also Taiga’s chance for another move. While he helped the boy up again he reached into his own pocket and let the small key drop to the ground, hoping that if someone would see it now they would assume that Domoto lost it as he had moved to the side as Ren had come out the room.

Instead of thanking Taiga, Ren turned towards Domoto right away and bowed, voicing out an apology before he vanished down the corridor to obviously get something which Sakurai had ordered him with.

“Maybe you should wait around the stage for me. Feel free to walk around the hideout, it’s quite noisy around here at the moment,” Domoto told him with a nod towards two of the members which got ready to follow Taiga around. Then the leader vanished inside the room and Taiga started walking towards the stage. No one had seen the key until now, so for now he was safe and being allowed to finally walk around a bit was definitely making it easier to keep everything together. But the real challenge would come the moment Domoto would try to test his limits through the drugs and if he could put an act on at that time was something he wasn’t sure of at all.


	10. Chapter 10

Too many thoughts crushed on him when Kentaro regained consciousness and he couldn’t even open his eyes through the headache which obviously tried to split his skull. Pictures and voices in his head finally connected again and he could recall what had happened.

He hadn’t seen who had thrown himself in front of him when the explosion happened next to him, but he knew who it was through the conversation which had happened next to them.

There was hope, wasn’t there? They weren’t completely lost. They were still worried for them. They were still caring for them as they did before. Juri and Kochi could try as much as they wanted to act like the bad guys, but it was clear that the time at the fight club had changed them and now the only thing they might needed was a hand stretched out to them to pull them out and if one hand wasn’t enough, they had enough to pull them up with the strength of an elephant.

But Aran was a different case and that thought pulled him down again. He wouldn’t take any hand but Kentaro’s, but even that chance was small. The boy had made a decision and as long as he could run he would do so. But risking his own life to save Kentaro’s showed once more that their story was definitely still not over.

“Are you awake?”

The question startled the boy a bit, because he was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t even realized that someone was with him. He hadn’t even thought about where he had ended up after the fight and how the others were, so slowly he fought his way to the surface and opened his eyes. Luckily the main lights in the room were out and just a small lamp at the end of the room was making it possible to see.

The first thing he realized was that he was in their med room which meant that they somehow had made it back or someone had come to look for them. The next thing he realized was that Ueda was sitting next to his bed with a calm yet worried expression.

“How are you feeling?” He asked in a low voice on which Kentaro closed his eyes once more and let out a low groan.

“To be honest the headache is the worst at the moment.”

“I can give you some painkillers for that.”

When Ueda stood up and went over to another table to get the medication Kentaro turned towards the other side of the bed and somehow he wasn’t even surprised to find Nikaido there, but his upper body was resting on the bed and he was obviously asleep.

“He waited for you to wake up the whole day, but now it is early morning of the next day and at some point I almost had to force him to sleep,” Ueda explained as he handed Kentaro the painkiller and a glass water.

“We are quite similar when it comes to the matter of worrying for the other one,” Kentaro let out when he put the glass away and kept staring at his protector.

“Shall we wake him up?”

“No, let him sleep. He will worry enough when he wakes up, until then he should get as much sleep as possible,” Kentaro replied before he spent more attention towards Ueda again. “Please tell me that Shintaro and Watanabe are okay.”

“Yes, they are the ones which brought you here. Together with Kitayama and the rest of his men.”

“So they ran in the end?”

“It seems like Domoto and his men also retreated when the explosion killed a lot of their own members, so Kitayama took the chance to rescue the rest of his men. But the Exposers are on high alert now, so they couldn’t go there. For now they are all staying at the training room, because the med room isn’t spacious enough for them.”

Kentaro could just nod at that. For now he was relieved that they had all somehow made it, but that didn’t mean that the danger was over. The next attack would come for sure and this time they had to be ready, no matter when or where!

***

“Here.”

Domoto held out the two capsules towards him as he had done the night before and in the morning already and as before Taiga took them from him as well as the water glass and he swallowed...waiting for Domoto to turn his back on him and now that it was already the third time he had become quite good in hiding the capsules under his tongue and let them vanish inside is pocket until he was able to go to the bathroom to throw them away.

The night before Domoto had luckily been too exhausted to even try any kind of move, but unfortunately the same applied for Taiga. His thoughts had still been racing over the whole night, drifting off to Kentaro and then making a turn back to Reo. In the end he hadn’t been able to sleep much and of course he had forgotten about the knife completely, but this time it was different. Over the whole day he had thought about this and especially through what he had said about Kentaro it was a clear decision for Taiga that he needed to at least try and finally get out by himself. After all the latter was sleeping right next to him. He couldn’t pretend to be asleep the whole time so there should be a chance to attack him.

His thoughts were interrupted when Domoto also sat on the bed, but instead of lying down he crawled closer to Taiga who wanted to back off, but refused his body to follow that order as he reminded himself that he wouldn’t back off if he still took the capsules.

“Let me see your wound,” Domoto said as he reached out for the seam of Taiga’s shirt and as much as the boy wanted to refuse he let him pull it over his head so that the leader was able to take a look at the sewed wound on his chest. With a way too careful touch he moved his fingers over the boy’s skin and of course it didn’t take long until they moved somewhere else as well.

Taiga tried his best to act as if he didn’t mind and he succeeded quite well, fixing a spot at the end of the bed with his eyes to not blow his cover if he looked at Domoto directly.

“How are you feeling lately?”

What an innocent question, wasn’t it? So caring and honest...and as much as Taiga wanted to give him the most ironic answer ever on his stupid try to sound innocent he held back once more.

“Good, I think. I don’t need the painkillers anymore and I can walk around without problems as well.”

“That’s good. Very good.”

Slowly Domoto’s hands moved towards the boy’s collarbone and up to his neck, until one hand ended up under his chin forcing him to look up. Just for a brief moment Taiga closed his eyes, gathering all his calmness to act through this before he faced Domoto directly.

While one hand remained under his chin, the other one went through his hair, brushing through the remaining short length.

“The short hair suits you, even though I’ve to admit I loved your long strands.”

What a shame, was what Taiga would normally say now in the most sarcastic way ever, once more the words didn’t come out.

But now he had to also make his body move the way it was needed as Domoto came closer, obviously trying his luck tonight. Just freezing would make it clear that he was hiding something, so when Domoto finally dared to brush his lips over his Taiga closed his eyes and ordered his brain to stop working for a bit longer. He wouldn’t let him go through with it if the leader wanted to take it even further after all it was his first attempt so even under the effect of the drugs he couldn’t be sure that there was no resistance at some point.

Feeling like moving towards the whole wrong direction, Taiga lifted his arm and put his hand on the latter’s chest as Domoto tried to deepen the kiss and instead of backing out Taiga leant forward, to the older one’s obvious satisfaction.

His hand traveled from the boy’s hair to his neck to pull him even more into the kiss and when his tongue licked over Taiga’s lips the boy gained him access.

It was when Domoto started to move a bit more roughly that Taiga’s body started tensing against his will and especially when Domoto pushed him backwards so that he need to lie down he felt how he was about to lose control over his act.

“So obedient today, aren’t you?” Domoto let out with a low chuckle as he gave the boy some space and moved his lips down towards his neck, attacking it with his teeth and tongue.

Taiga let out a shaking breath on that move, but it didn’t seem to make the other one suspicious. With his next move he took Taiga’s wrists in his hands and moved them slowly over the boy’s head.

That was the moment when Taiga’s body finally tensed completely and he allowed his body to finally struggle and he tried to free his hands, but of course the latter kept a tight grip on them.

“Already running out of patience?” The older one asked in amusement while Taiga faced him with a more rebellious look this time.

“Can I ask you to let go?” Taiga asked instead of giving an order, after all that was what had happened with Reo at first as well. He wouldn’t switch to angry from one second to the other, so he was still trying to keep his act up somehow.

“Is it uncomfortable for you?”

Taiga nodded and relaxed a bit when the grip on his wrists got a little bit lose, but when he tried to pull his arms away the grip tightened again. It tightened to the extent that Taiga let out a hiss on the force and tried to break free even more. Domoto kept watching him with a faint smile until Taiga realized that he wouldn’t be able to free himself like this and he halted, looking up at the older one.

“You are such a bad boy sometimes,” Domoto let out, making Taiga’s look turn to confused. But Domoto just chuckled and removed one hand just to be able to pull his own belt out of his pants. Before Taiga could even react to that move though the leader had trapped his hand once more, now the belt in his hand as well before he leant down to the boy’s ear. “You should have chosen the gun, you know.”

Taiga took a sharp breath as he realized what that meant and he finally gave up on acting through this in any kind of way as it was clear that Domoto had seen through him. But he couldn’t even start struggling for real, because with the next move his hands were trapped at the frame of the bed with Domoto’s belt.

“Sometimes I wonder if you just don’t want to use a good chance when you have one or if you somehow struggle about making a decision, for example about killing me, because last night you would have had the perfect chance and you didn’t use it.”

Of course Taiga knew how stupid he was for not using his chance the night before, but it was definitely not because he struggled with any decision regarding Domoto. If he could he would just rip him to pieces with his hands or burn him down with his eyes, but unfortunately he couldn’t.

“So where is it?”

It was clear that he was talking about the knife, but asking that question meant Taiga could at least try once more to act as if he had done nothing after all.

“Where is what?”

“Are you sure you want to play that game now? I warn you once that I am not in the mood for your stubbornness, so I ask once more, where is the knife?”

Taiga hesitated for a moment, but as always he didn’t want to just give up and play by the other one’s rules.

“I don’t know,” was what he replied in the end and Domoto didn’t even reply before he got up and searched through the few clothes Taiga had in the room, after all he had no personal belongings with him so there were not many possibilities left. Soon Domoto started searching the bed next to where Taiga was still trapped. After the pillow and sheets landed on the ground Domoto lifted the side of the mattress and pulled out the knife with a neutral look.

“And of course you don’t know how it ended up there, right?” Domoto asked as he sat down next to Taiga on the bed.

“No clue,” Taiga replied and out of a sudden the leader moved. For a moment Taiga was too shocked about what happened to even react until the pain got the upper hand and he bit his lip to suppress a scream as Domoto sank the knife into Taiga’s upper leg without any kind of warning.

“You still don’t know?” Domoto asked while he left the knife where it was and Taiga shot him a hateful glare on which the latter twisted the knife inside Taiga’s leg on which the boy couldn’t suppress a sound this time, but he still succeeded in keeping it just a low groan. “Okay, I’ve enough of your games!”

With that Domoto pulled out the knife on which Taiga let out a hiss. With the next move the leader was up and vanished out of the room for a moment. When he came back he pulled a confused looking Reo after him, but the boy’s look turned into shocked the moment he saw Taiga, topless and pinned to the bed and also with a stab wound on the leg.

“What do you think happened?” Domoto asked the boy as he pulled him towards the bed, but Reo just kept looking at Taiga with the best poker face he could create before he shrugged his shoulders and turned to the leader.

“I guess he was stubborn as always? Maybe he insulted you or did something else which was stupid?”

When Domoto nodded, both of them could see how his mood switched into his insane state slowly, which was definitely not a good timing. But while Taiga could just admit that he had taken the knife out of the desk he couldn’t explain at all why Domoto turned towards Reo the next moment and gave him such a hard punch that the latter stumbled and landed on the ground.

“You two really think you can keep playing your games with me? Let me show you who the master of games is!”

While Reo remained on the ground in a sitting position Domoto walked over to Taiga again and turned towards Reo as he took the knife and brought it down into Taiga’s leg without a warning once more. This time he buried it deeper than before and the sudden action had taken Taiga by such a surprise that he couldn’t suppress a scream on the sudden new pain.

Reo tensed on that action, but he still just kept looking, not knowing at all why the leader kept looking at him like that, after all he really didn’t know what was going on this time.

“Anyone of you in talking mood now?” Domoto asked in a dangerous voice and while Reo didn’t even know what he should talk about Taiga decided that it was definitely not worth it to keep silent just to make Domoto freak, after all he could actually kill him in the state he was in.

“I took the knife out of the drawer when you were in the shower,” Taiga said in a low voice on which Domoto turned towards the boy with a faint smile as if he was proud that he had admitted it.

“And?”

“I hid it under the mattress where you just found it.”

“You want to tell me how you got the key for the drawer?”

“It fell out of your pocket when you left your coat on the chair.”

“Oh is that so?” Instead of looking at Taiga he suddenly faced Reo and Taiga tried to lift his head a bit, but what he saw confused him, because Reo looked like he had suddenly been sentenced to death even though he had done nothing.

“Reo, did you hear that? You have anything to say to that?”

“I found it in the corridor, as I told you when I handed it to you,” Reo let out and it scared Taiga a lot to hear his voice shaking.

Before Taiga could think about what was happening Domoto turned the knife once more and pushed it even deeper into Taiga’s leg on which Taiga’s body jolted and he let out another scream.

“Please stop! I really found it by coincidence! Maybe Taiga has dropped it on purpose.”

Finally Taiga understood what was going on and when Domoto pulled out the knife he let out another hiss before he took a deep breath.

“Reo has nothing to do with this! I let it drop in the corridor when you entered the room Ren dashed out from. That was when I dropped it.”

How could his improvised plan fail in the worst way ever? Why had Reo been the one finding this stupid key? Everyone would have been fine, but not him! Of course Domoto would think right away that they worked this out together and Reo would have stolen the key from Domoto to help Taiga. Like this Reo’s last try to gain Domoto’s trust once more was good for nothing.

“Wait, please listen! He really has absolutely nothing to do with this!” Taiga almost begged the leader as he suddenly approached the boy which was still on the ground, but Domoto ignored Taiga completely as he lifted Reo up on the collar and slammed him with his back into the wall. He still had the knife in his hand and it was dangerous close to his neck.

“Who would have guessed that you’d make the same mistake twice,” Domoto hissed at the boy and while Taiga didn’t understand what he meant Reo seemed to as his eyes grew wide on that and from one second to the other his whole world seemed to crumble. Like a kid, maybe not older than 15 years old he looked to Taiga out of a sudden and it was extremely scary to see him that vulnerable.

“Do I have to remind you what happens when you act this rebellious because of someone else? You want me to take care of the problem the same way once more?”

Regardless the knife under his chin Reo suddenly reached out for Domoto’s arms with a tight grip and shook his head in panic. “Don’t, please! No...please…”

When Reo suddenly seemed to get a breakdown out of nowhere Domoto seemed more than satisfied with his reaction while Taiga forgot the pain of his injuries about what was happening in front of him. How was this situation different from all the other times Domoto had punished him for helping Taiga? Seeing how Reo sank to the ground while Domoto luckily pulled away the knife a bit to let him slide down on the wall, was hurting way more than any physical pain Domoto had caused him over the whole time.

Domoto crouched down in front of the boy before he stretched out his hand and moved it under the boy’s chin to make him look up, but the boy wasn’t able to stand his look for long. His body had started shaking and he seemed like he would shatter under some kind of pressure Taiga didn’t know about.

“This is your very last chance! One more wrong move and I make sure I will make a decision again and who knows if I choose you this time. I hope I made myself clear?”

Reo couldn’t even clearly nod while his body tried to fold together even more on the ground as Domoto stood up and went over to the door before he looked at Taiga once more.

“Maybe having Reo as an enemy is better for both of you. It’s also your last chance to decide which side you want him on.”

With a loud bang Domoto slammed the door shut behind him, making clear once more that they could call themselves lucky that they got away alive in the first place, because his insane side was definitely nothing they should play with. When Taiga heard how he locked the door from the outside he wondered how he had left both of them in the same room after everything that happened, but there was absolutely nothing anymore which made sense to Taiga in the first place, but it didn’t actually matter, because the next moment he heard a sob from Reo and he turned to look at the boy, which had hidden his face on his knees and was shaking even more bitterly than before.

“Reo, get up,” Taiga said, first in a low voice, but when there was no reaction at all he repeated it louder, but again, nothing.

“REO!”

Shouting at him had made him jolt, but he had still not looked up which made Taiga extremely angry. Sure the fact that Domoto left them alone wasn’t actually making it easier to understand the situation, but what else than talk could they do at the moment? Even if Reo decided to return to his former self Taiga needed at least an explanation of what was going on.

“Please Reo, get up! At least untie me so I can treat my leg, because it really hurts!”

It had been a try to reach Reo’s rational thinking part, but even that seemed to have shut down. “Look at me!”

Again nothing and this time Taiga had enough. “I SAID LOOK AT ME, REO!”

Taiga wasn’t sure if it was the choice of words combined with the way he had shouted at him, but finally the boy reacted, even though Taiga’s stomach twisted on the hurt look which hit him. How could he keep fighting, keep trying not to break, while Reo was sitting in front of him this broken? Never had the boy cried like this in front of him. Why now?

“Stand up, get your ass over here and untie me from the bed,” Taiga ordered instead of asking this time, because he feared the boy would just back off further. To his surprise the boy moved, even though it was a complete wrong picture how Reo had so much trouble to even get up and walk over to him. With shaking hands he removed the belt from the boy’s wrists and Taiga had read his next move before he could go through with it. Reo wanted to run! Of course he wanted to, who wouldn’t in such a condition? But when the boy tried to turn away from Taiga he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down on the bed, knowing that with his leg injury he wouldn’t be able to have a long fight with him now.

The boy struggled right away when Taiga tried to keep him down, but in his state Reo couldn’t even put up a real fight and soon Taiga had trapped his arms with his own and kept the boy with his back against his chest.

“It’s okay, calm down! Reo, please listen to me! I am not here to hurt you, but I won’t let you run away like this,” Taiga tried to explain in a calm voice to him when the boy was getting close to start screaming while his body was obviously crumbling under the pressure.

“I can’t go through this again. Please Taiga, let me go! I can’t...I can’t lose you as well…”

Now everything made sense, even though Taiga didn’t want to understand. After all understanding what Domoto had talked about before made him realize what was different this time and how much of a burden the memories Reo carried were to him.

“You remember when you told me how to rescue myself when my past tried to swallow me? Let me do the same for you!”

Reo shook his head, but Taiga just tightened his grip as the boy wanted to struggle again.

“Don’t run, it will make everything even worse,” Taiga soothed him again while he had completely forgotten about the fact that his body was in pain, but when hadn’t it been in pain over the last months?

“I am here to listen and that is exactly what you need right now! I bet you were never able to talk about it! You might get along with Juri, Aran and a few others, but I doubt you ever shared that memory of yours with anyone.”

This time there was no move of resistance, just silence. When Reo moved again Taiga got ready to hold him down once more, but it came different when the latter turned around in his arms. Before Taiga could actually take a look at him the boy hid his face on the latter’s chest and in silence Taiga closed his arms protectively around the boy’s shoulders and placed a short kiss on his hair.

Finally he would be able to give at least a little bit of the comfort back Reo had given him over all the tormenting moments Taiga had gone through at Mugen. Reo had endured them on his own for years and finally he had someone he could share his burdens and worries with and which was most important he could finally tell someone about the one memory which pressured him the most, which had turned him into the unemotional warrior he was for years, until Taiga had arrived!


	11. Chapter 11

When Aran woke up the burning pain on his back was the first thing he realized and it would definitely be even worse if he actually lay on it, but he was luckily resting on his stomach. With a groan he slowly moved, turning on his side.

“Finally awake?”

When he looked up he found Ren on a chair next to the bed. The boy looked extremely exhausted and had also some bruises from the fight before.

“How long was I asleep?”

“The whole day after the battle, now it's late at night of the next day so not too long.”

“Did anything important happen while I was out?”

Ren let out a sigh before he rested back on the chair. “In matters of any attacks or fights with the underground, no.”

Aran looked at him in confusion for a moment before he slowly understood.

“Okay please just don't tell me that Hagiya ran wild or that Kochi and Juri did something.”

“Except for saving your life those two didn't do anything stupid recently,” Ren let out half scolding, half teasing on which Aran rolled his eyes.

“Domoto freaked at Reo and Taiga, because he thought they plotted something against him.”

That made Aran’s look turn to worried immediately, but Ren shook his head right away.

“Don't worry he didn't kill either of them. I was close by in the hallway when Domoto pulled Reo in his room. What I'm sure of though is that he hurt at least Taiga at some point, because I heard him scream.”

It wasn't like Aran was surprised. After all Avernus were moving towards their final attack with which Domoto got more stressed and at moments like that he also ran out of patience easily.

“Are you worried for Taiga?” Ren asked.

The question took him by surprise and he needed a moment to even form an answer.

“I'm not sure if it should be called worried, because I barely ever worried for Reo either, but…”

“But what?” Ren asked curiously as Aran’s look got darker again.

“Don't understand this wrong, but I somehow envy him.”

Yes that was actually a statement which could be understood in every wrong way possible, but Ren waited patiently for him to explain what he meant.

“I haven't been here the whole time since they brought Taiga inside Mugen, but what I saw until now impressed me a lot. The boy is on his own and here he keeps fighting every single day.”

“But he has Reo,” Ren let out and bit his lip the next moment as if he had said something forbidden.

“That is something we all realized already, but also something that will push Domoto to his sanity limit at some point. But somehow I've the feeling Taiga will still keep fighting in his own way.”

Ren tilted his head as Aran fell silent with a kind of nostalgic look in his eyes.

“Did you not keep fighting at some point?”

Suddenly feeling caught Aran looked to the ground, but Ren just let out a low chuckle.

“Don't worry we all have our pasts and we all have our moments when we regret or question our decisions.” Suddenly Ren pointed at him warningly before he continued. “Don't you dare to say that to Hagiya! It's enough that he doubts you, I don't need him to watch me as well.”

On that Aran let out a chuckle as well before a brief smile appeared on his lips.

“I've the feeling the closer we get to our enemies the more we get affected.”

“I wouldn't actually say enemies in your case. Or would you normally risk your life for an enemy?”

“Would you question your decisions, because of an enemy?” Aran asked back on which Ren gave him a kind of challenging look.

Ren fell weirdly silent on that question. Had there been something Aran wasn’t aware of? It wasn’t like they were talking about private matters a lot, but he had realized that Ren had somehow changed, especially now that he had fight a lot at the front as well which he didn’t until now.

“Definitely not because of an enemy,” Ren eventually let out and his statement could also been interpreted in a lot of ways.

It was weird for both to not feel at all threatened by the other one talking like he could actually back out or even change sides. Sure they were all following the leader and they all had their reasons to keep fighting, but what would happen if the fight didn't have the outcome Avernus hoped for? What if there was suddenly another way, another choice? That question was definitely something bothering Ren at the moment, while Aran didn't bother with the same thought. Ren had figured it out already after all, Aran had stopped fighting and he had no intentions to give it another try out of his own personal reasons.

***

The next day there was a sudden meeting announcement and all Avernus members had to attend which filled the theater to the last seat.

Taiga stood next to Domoto’s chair with his weight on one leg, because his hurt leg made it hard to even stand. In the middle of the night before Reo had finally calmed down after he had had a long talk with Taiga about his past and in the end he had treated Taiga’s wound before he had left. Now Reo was standing on the other side of the chair his expression back to his mask, but way darker than before. Domoto hadn’t returned to the room for the night and it had been Hagiya who had actually picked him up earlier to bring him to the meeting.

The meeting itself hadn’t surprised him, actually he and Reo had talked about way more than just Reo’s past in the end, but seeing all the Avernus members gathered like this made his stomach twist on the spot. It also hadn’t been that pleasant to stand right next to Juri and Kochi, but that seemed to be a mutual feeling. On the other hand he was relieved to see that Aran was fine, but it was unfortunately not the time to ask him about Kentaro, as much as he needed to know if his friend was safe or not.

“Welcome,” Domoto greeted everyone while he stood up and spread his arms out to the whole theater. “I know we didn’t have the time to come together as the troop we are recently, but now the time has finally come! All of us together, as Avernus, we will finally take control of the Underground and Tokyo is just the beginning!”

Cheering and approving shouts were heard through the theater, but as always Taiga could spot those which weren’t actually here to fight in the first place, but the number of those people had drastically fallen. He spotted Sakuma in the front rows as well, but the boy faced the ground instead of looking up to the stage, obviously trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

“We already broke two sides of the Triangle down and we will also succeed in taking the last pillar down! Together we will rule by the new system of the Underground.” Domoto looked at Sakurai and Takizawa which were standing next to him now and bowed lightly towards him on that announcement. “Three troops united under the name Avernus! Together we will write history!”

Again the shouting got louder and people got more and more excited, knowing that this was his final declaration of war towards the Underground before he would let them loose.

Once more he lifted his arms with an already victorious smile on his lips. “Show them how strong we are! Show them what immense power they refused to lead the Underground!” Domoto’s smile got more vicious as he tilted his head a bit his eyes slowly letting his insanity run wild as he let out a low chuckle. “Crush them!”

With that the members’ shouting reached its peak and when Sakurai and Takizawa moved, all the members started moving as well. Just a few members were left on the stage as the theater was empty after a few minutes and a cold shiver ran down Taiga’s back as he realized that he could do nothing to warn his friends.

“Hagiya, I’ve a mission for you, come here!” Domoto announced and the boy moved right away, giving a lopsided sneer towards Reo before he stepped in front of Domoto and bowed. The leader whispered something in his ear before the boy bowed again and left the theater as well.

Domoto gave Reo a warning side glance as he turned towards him even though the boy didn’t even seem capable of even trying to plot anything against him in his state. He still looked as broken as the evening before if not even more and Taiga could see that a lot of the other boys could tell the difference and he felt weirdly relieved about the worry he could see in Aran’s and Juri’s looks.

“How’s your leg?” Domoto addressed Taiga as he walked up to him on which Taiga raised an eyebrow.

“Seriously now? You never asked me how the wounds were you created in the first place. Don’t even pretend you’d care.”

“Mh, still the same stubbornness. You’ll never learn, will you?” When Domoto gave him a lopsided smile before he gave Reo another side glance Taiga freaked and stepped forward pushing Domoto away. It wasn’t like he was seriously trying to attack the leader, after all he was outnumbered and also injured, but he had enough of playing after his rules and acting all careful, especially after what he had heard the night before. The things Domoto had done to him weren’t even half as bad as through what Reo had gone through and it made Taiga’s rage reach an unhealthy level.

“You’ll also never learn! You know you can’t break me! You know I’ll never play by your rules, so why won’t you spare us all the drama?”

“Oh the drama is just about to start! Just wait and you’ll see how I will enjoy my new game! This time you are allowed to watch.”

Taiga needed a moment to realize what he meant before he understood where Hagiya had gone to. He wouldn’t let them run into this trap and even though he knew he couldn’t stop them from coming, he could at least give them a reason to not risk their lives in this fight anymore.”

With a determined look he faced Domoto on which the leader tilted his head in excitement.

“Any complains?”

“I won’t let you play another game! And definitely not with my friends!”

“Oh and how are you going to stop me?”

“Kill me!”

His words had even Aran and Juri gasp and while he couldn’t see them as they were standing behind him he also missed that finally Kochi showed a reaction as well, but they all didn’t dare to move. But he didn’t miss how Reo’s look didn’t change at all. Slowly the same desperation from the night before seemed to push him closer to the abyss again and Taiga knew that with his decision he hurt Reo a lot, but he had made a choice.

“Oh? Interesting choice…” Domoto let out with an amused smile. “Giving up after all you’ve endured?”

“I am not giving up! I am setting you check mate by robbing you of the chance of using me for your stupid games!”

“And you really think I will allow that?” Domoto asked curiously on which Taiga formed a lopsided smile this time.

“I don’t need your permission. If you won’t do me the favor I do it myself.”

It happened too fast for anyone to react as Taiga let his hand vanish into his pocket. When Domoto realized what he had pulled out he dashed forward trying to stop him, but it had been too late. The other boys looked at him in panic as he swallowed the capsules he had just pulled out his pocket. The same capsules Domoto had given him before and he had just forgotten about them, leaving them in the room for the whole time. But Taiga had heard from Reo that Sakurai had warned Domoto that an overdose could be extremely dangerous and could kill him in the worst case.

“So what do you think how much time will it take until they’ll kill me?” Taiga asked with a mocking smile after he had swallowed a handful of the capsules at once. Domoto reached out for his collar and pulled him closer with a look as dangerous as never before. He hated losing more than everything in the world that was clear to all of them, but Taiga couldn’t feel more satisfied about being the reason for that look finally showing on the latter’s face.

“Get Sakurai back here, NOW!” Domoto shouted at some of his members which waited at the other side of the stage. They bowed immediately before the dashed out the theater.

“Oh, are you that worried for me? Shall I feel grateful now?” Taiga kept mocking him on which Domoto lost his temper and gave Taiga a harsh slap, which would have made him fall backwards if the latter wouldn’t hold on to him.

“I’ll make you go through hell if you survive this!” Domoto growled at him, but Taiga just kept smiling.

“How about I just wait for you down there? I am sure you will soon join me!”

Each and every word was satisfying Taiga as much as stabbing one knife after the other into the latter’s chest.

Domoto was about to shout something back when Taiga’s legs gave up on him. Domoto was too slow to get a grip on him and Taiga fell to his knees. He started coughing out of a sudden and when blood left his mouth it was Juri who moved and dashed towards him, sitting next to him and shaking him on the shoulders.

“Taiga! You idiot, why did you do this?” Juri scolded him as he pulled him up again. The latter gave him a smile, some blood still leaving his mouth from the corner of his lips.

“Because I can’t let them hurt my family even more. Didn’t you all suffer enough?”

His choice of words made Juri’s eyes grew wide and Taiga looked up at Kochi which made a step backwards on that.

Luckily Domoto had moved away from them the moment Taiga had broken down, not spending them any attention for now. He stopped next to Reo and pulled the boy with him.

“You know a lot about all kind of drugs as well! Make an antidote or anything that could help him, now!” Domoto shouted at him as he pulled him towards the backstage area, almost pushing him down the stairs. Reo looked towards Taiga with a worried look again, but then Domoto took him by the collar so that he had to look up at him.

“If he dies I make this your responsibility as well!” Domoto hissed at him and finally Reo nodded and dashed towards his room after Domoto released him.

Taiga had seen it from the corner of his eyes and he couldn’t from forming another triumphing smile. Seeing Domoto that troubled was making his decision more than worth it. Time was the only thing that was bothering him now. How long until Hagiya would come back from the place he’d been sent to? How much longer until the capsules would kill him? He had chosen this path himself and he knew how heavy the consequences could be for all the people involved, but at least once he had been able to fight back and his way of fighting was the strongest when it was an idea his mind created and it seemed like Domoto wasn’t obviously a class five fighter in his mind.

***

Things had been extremely chaotic at the North Tokyo Fight Club with all the Fire Foxes’ members there as well. They were all recovering slowly, but of course they knew there was no time to relax.

Kentaro still had a breaking headache, but at least he was able to walk around, not that he could do much, because Nakai had forbidden any of his fighters to even make a step outside the club. They had even put guards around the building, knowing that they could be the next target, because they gave the remaining triangle members shelter.

“Kentaro, could you just sit down for a moment?” Abe scolded him on which Kentaro gave him a scolding look.

“You and Miyata are running around for two days and nights straight already, so don’t tell me to sit down!” Kentaro let out annoyed as he put the new bandages he had brought for one of the injured members in the training room. They were all trying to help the wounded members as much as possible and through that Miyata and Abe had barely taken breaks until now.

“But I didn’t end up injured in an explosion before! Do I have to get Nikaido to make you take a break?”

That made Kentaro roll his eyes, but the threat was actually making him think of taking a break after all. Nikaido and Ueda were outside the building to guard it, together with Miyadate, Watanabe and a few other fighters, so he excused himself and walked towards the exit, finding Ueda and Nikaido right next to the gates outside.

“Everything alright?” Nikaido asked as the boy stepped outside.

“All good, Abe just threatened me to get you so I’d take a break.”

“So you took the chance and came to me instead?” Nikaido asked teasingly on which Kentaro hit him against the arm.

“I can go again if you don’t want me here. There are enough people inside the building which need help. By the way, where are Miyadate and Watanabe?”

“Patrolling around the building, after all we don’t know if they might come with any bombs or rocket launchers to our club as well,” Ueda answered.

A shiver ran down Kentaro’s spine as he realized how much the attack of Avernus remembered him of the war.

The moment he turned towards Nikaido to say something the same sound as before at the Fire Foxes’ hideout made Kentaro freeze and then there was an impact, but this time not as close as before. They all jolted and took a worried look around, but they couldn’t see smoke from a near area which actually made Ueda curse.

“So this time it’s the Exposers,” he hissed.

They could hear the sounds of grenades and other impacts from far away, but their area seemed to stay quiet for now, but who knew for how long?

“What do we do?” Kentaro asked impatiently on which the older two shared a worried look.

“We can’t just sit back and wait to be the next ones to get attacked,” Nikaido let out on which Ueda nodded.

“They are on the move, aren’t they?” Watanabe was heard next to them as he and Miyadate dashed around the corner. “What do we do?”

“Go inside and let Nakai and Kitayama know what is going on! Those who want to fight are allowed to go with us to the Exposers’ hideout,” Ueda ordered them and both boys dashed inside the building.

“They will all be gathered there, so if we are fast enough to get the other fight clubs and troops which decided to fight there in time we could stand a chance,” Kentaro said on which Ueda nodded, but still seemed skeptical.

“They have more weapons and more people, especially because they broke down the Triangle already. But we should all head straight there. We have to get Domoto then we might stand a chance.”

“You won’t find Domoto there,” someone was heard after Ueda’s words and all of them turned around, finding Hagiya approaching them.

“What a surprise, Domoto didn’t send his usual puppet to get on our nerves. You got promoted?” Ueda asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and burned the boy with a death glare.

Hagiya didn’t even react to his mocking. He stopped in front of them with a serious expression, not feeling the slightest threaten by the looks he received.

“What do you want?” Kentaro asked, trying hard to not dash forward and just beat the shit out of the boy. Sure he didn’t know the reason why the boy had entered the dancing rascals, but something was different about him than with the other boys. Since their cover had been blown at Kamenashi’s hideout the boy seemed a whole different person. His acting had been great, but his real personality made Kentaro shiver. It wasn’t the same as with Reo or Aran, this boy had almost the same aura as Domoto around him which made it impossible for Kentaro to even think about him as victim of this Underground war. He seemed to be part of it out of his own free will and on top of that he seemed to enjoy it to the fullest.

“I am here to let you know that you might want to fight your battle at a different location.”

“Right, as if we would run into one of your traps,” Kentaro shot back.

“It’s your own decision. Please feel free to run off to rescue your friends, but you will miss your only chance to maybe get Taiga back.”

That actually made Ueda tense and he narrowed his eyes, trying to find the lie in the boy’ eyes.

“Why would Domoto make it that easy out of a sudden after he tried to kill our friends to keep them from taking Taiga away from him?” Nikaido asked on which Hagiya shrugged his shoulders.

“You’ve met him, you know how much he loves games. If you want to try your luck he is at the hideout with a few other remaining members, but there is not more than a handful of members at the moment.” With that Hagiya stepped back and bowed lightly with a lopsided smile. “Please excuse me, my services are needed elsewhere for now.”

No one tried to stop him as he vanished between the buildings and the next moment Miyadate and Watanabe came out the door together with a lot of Fire Foxes members and their fight club members.

“Are we going?” Watanabe asked as he already moved towards the Exposers’ hideout, but then he stopped, realizing that the other three seemed a bit lost out of a sudden.

“Did something happen?” Kitayama asked as he stepped next to them, followed by Inoo, Daiki and Hikaru.

“Hagiya just came and told us that Domoto is still at the hideout with almost none of his members,” Nikaido explained.

“Please what? That is so ridiculous. Who wouldn’t smell the trap behind that?” Fukka asked while crossing his arms to his chest on which Myuto nodded.

“Actually I think it could be true,” Ueda let out on which all eyes were on him. “Think about it! It’s like Hagiya said, he loves games! He isn’t stupid. He won’t face us alone that is exactly while a few other strong members remained at his side, so that if we come with more people they can hold them off.”

“Hold them off for what reason?” Kentaro asked even though he wasn’t as clueless as he wanted to be, but the possibility of what Domoto tried scared him.

“To get rid of me,” Ueda let out in a way too calm voice.

“The only person he thinks which keeps Taiga from surrendering,” Watanabe let out.

Silence followed for a moment and no one actually dared to make a decision. Everyone was waiting for Ueda to make the next move after all it was his life which was mostly in danger this time.

“It doesn’t actually matter,” Ueda let out on which Nikaido raised an eyebrow and Kentaro tilted his head, not knowing what he meant. “Domoto’s plan will fail one way or the other. Either we win against him or we don’t. But as long as Taiga has a place to go back to he will keep fighting! It doesn’t matter if it’s me or you guys he goes back to.”

The meaning of his words gave Kentaro a shiver, especially because it also made his decision clear. Nikaido stepped forward and put his hand on the older one’s shoulder with a serious look. “I don’t oppose your decision, but don’t act reckless, okay? Taiga needs you more than all of us!”

“I know, I am not planning on letting this insane bastard win this game,” Ueda replied with a confident look.

“So what do we do?” Miyadate asked impatiently on which Ueda took a look on the people gathered.

“Kitayama, would you mind getting your remaining men to the Exposers’ hideout? I know it’s much to ask of after what happened to your troop, but maybe together you can somehow fight them off. We will send some of our fighters with you. I would just like Nikaido, Kentaro, Miyadate and Watanabe to come with me.”

“We still have a score to settle anyway,” Kitayama said with a lopsided smile.

“Miyata and Abe are staying here at the club so you can bring the wounded ones back here to let them get treated,” Miyadate explained, but then he took a confused look around. “Ehm, where is Shintaro?”

“He was still with us inside when we explained what happened,” Watanabe let out confused.

“Doesn’t matter now. He can come after us, let’s move for now,” Kitayama said, on which they nodded before they wanted to take off first to not loose even more time.

“Be careful!” Kentaro said towards all of them with a worried look.

“Same to you guys,” Daiki said with a confident smile and Inoo and Hikaru nodded as well.

“I’d like to say we will be alright, but in this situation that would be a lie,” Kitayama said with a teasing smile, but it didn’t actually brighten up the atmosphere.

“You and Kamenashi are needed to build up the Triangle again, make sure that you all come back here!” Nikaido said to everyone’s surprise. After all he was definitely still the least found of Kitayama as the leader of the Fire Foxes.

“I can’t promise that, but we will do our best,” the older one replied before they all finally moved towards their different locations.


	12. Chapter 12

It didn’t take Tegoshi long to find the people he was looking for between all the fighting and explosions outside the Exposers’ hideout. He wasn’t sure if he just couldn’t spot them or if Sakurai and Domoto weren’t with the Dancing Rascals, but there were a lot of the Mugen members there that was clear. It made him wonder if they attacked at different locations as well, but that was something he could worry about later. With big steps he approached the closest member to him and the other one didn’t even see him coming, so he landed on the ground with a pained yelp as Tegoshi jumped him into the back.

“Get up you fucking bastard it’s time to fight for your life!”

It was Yasu he had found first and even though he hadn’t actually participated in the tournament on that day it could have easily been him who could have killed Massu if they had ended up fighting each other. For Tegoshi they were all the same anyway.

The man jumped up and dashed towards Tegoshi, not wasting time to turn it into an unfair fight as he pulled out a dagger, but that was his first and also last mistake.

This was no tournament, neither a street fight, this was war and Tegoshi gave a shit about fairness. It took him just one swift move to dodge the other one’s attack, get the knife out of his hand and stab it in his stomach. Yasu gasped and tried to get a grip on Tegoshi’s hand, but the latter pulled the knife out just to stab him once more, this time with more force, directly under the ribs so that the other one spit out blood before he dropped dead to the ground.

“You’d deserved an even crueler death after everything you’ve done, be happy I am the merciful type,” Tegoshi hissed before he tightened the grip on the knife and kept moving, trying to find his next target.

***

They were dashing through the streets as fast as they could and even though Kitayama didn’t have as many men left as before he knew they could turn the tables with their arrival.

It was when the fighting noises seemed closer than the Exposers hideout that Kitayama slowed down.

“What is it?” Daiki asked worried on which Kitayama stopped completely and lifted his hand before he dashed towards another direction, the others following him without any questions.

“Shit, what is going on?” Inoo asked in shock as they faced one of the normally calm main streets between their territories. There were a few small troops around here, but never had it been a place to worry about, but now it was a huge chaos. A few clubs were burning, there were people outside on the street fighting and shouting.

“Those are Avernus trucks,” Hikaru said as he saw the trucks at the end of the street. They had obviously dashed inside the street without a warning, damaging the buildings with them and killing the first people by running over them.

“In this area there are a lot of people not involved in the Underground at all, those cowards! Do they want to burn whole Tokyo to the ground?” Daiki hissed.

“Let’s split up,” Kitayama announced on which the others waited for him to give more orders. “Inoo lead half of our men to the Exposers hideout, I will stay here with the other half and Fukka and Myuto. We will take care of this area and join you later.”

Inoo nodded on his order and kept moving without any delay.

Kitayama dashed towards the main street with his remaining fighters and they split up to cover a wider area.

“Be careful, you know that they carry a lot of weapons,” Kitayama warned the others before he attacked the first people and soon there were knives and guns pulled out, but he soon got a grip of one of the guns himself through which he could at least fight on the same level.

Daiki and Hikaru stuck with him at first, but there were too many people and the area were people were fighting too wide to not split up after a while, leaving them all fighting on their own.

Soon there was a familiar face showing up and Kitayama recognized Ren a few meters away from him. The boy was fighting with a knife and didn’t see him approach. The man lifted the gun towards him, but then he hesitated as he realized something weird about the boy’s fighting. Yes he was indeed using the knife, but he wasn’t killing anyone. He used it to make his opponents unable to get up again or turned it around and used the handle to knock them unconsciously. Not to forget that he seemed extremely stressed out through the whole fight, more running away and dodging than attacking himself.

Through his own hesitation he had neglected his own cover and the next shot he heard had been directed towards him and he hissed as a bullet hit his shoulder. He swirled around, pointing the gun towards the person which had appeared behind him, but it was kicked out of his hand the next moment and then he landed on the ground with the next kick.

“Oh back to fighting after you fled with your men from your own hideout?” Sakurai was heard next to him on which Kitayama looked up at him with a death glare.

“At least we didn’t kill our own members in the progress,” Kitayama shot back as he got up again, but kept his distance, knowing that one wrong move could be his last.

“To reach a goal as big as ours you sometimes have to sacrifice a lot.”

“Are you all blind and deaf, because I wonder how you were able to survive in the Underground for such a long time without the bond we all share.”

“Oh, we have our bonds. They are just build on different principles. You have your family guideline while we have the one of the survival of the fittest, which means…” Without a warning Sakurai lifted his gun again and Kitayama knew that he wouldn’t be able to dodge on that distance. “...that you are going to die now.”

The moment he pulled the trigger Sakurai was dragged to the ground from Myuto and Fukka at the same time. The shot missed Kitayama by inches and he couldn’t from smiling as the two boys attacked Sakurai like two wild dogs with raving madness.

“That was for all the shit you and your stupid leader made Taiga go through,” Fukka hissed after they had gotten the gun from Sakurai and had beaten him for minutes without a break, until the Storm Warrior leader was a bloody mess, lying unconsciously to their feet.

“Guess you needed to let of some steam,” Kitayama teased them on which they both looked quite proudly at each other.

“It’s actually Domoto I would love to get my hands on, but I guess we’ve to leave that to Ueda,” Myuto said, but suddenly their carefree mood fell as they realized that they got surrounded slowly with a lot of the other troop members from their side being beaten already.

“We’re getting outnumbered,” Fukka said as they tried to figure out where they should attack and how to proceed to get the upper hand again.

“And they don’t even care if their leader is beaten or not,” Fukka hissed in annoyance.

“After all Domoto is the Avernus leader, so I guess they don’t care for anyone else,” Kitayama let out before his look fell on some people fighting to their right and the same moment he realized who was fighting alone against a lot of opponents. That person failed in dodging an attack and a knife buried right in his ribs.

“DAIKI!”

Kitayama dashed forward right away, fighting his way through the people attacking him. He didn’t lose sight of the boy for the whole time and even though he felt like it didn’t take him a few seconds to rush over to him he couldn’t prevent more attacks from happening. Like in slow motion he saw how Daiki tried to get away, but how his body couldn’t move the way he wanted to. He tried to dodge the next attack, but once more the knife sank into his body and with a painful cough a lot of blood left his mouth while he sank to his knees.

The moment Kitayama finally reached him Fukka and Myuto attacked Daiki’s opponents to keep them away as Kitayama caught the boy before he was falling over.

“Daiki, hey come on talk to me! Daiki!” Kitayama held him in his arms, but the boy had his eyes closed and even when he hit him against his cheek there was no reaction.

“Kitayama, we need to-” Fukka halted as he turned towards them and realized that what he wanted to say wouldn’t make sense anymore. There was no reason to retreat to treat Daiki’s wounds, because it was already too late.

“Guys, what are you doing, don’t stand around there and- Daiki…!” Hikaru came running towards them and dropped to the ground next to Kitayama.

“No,no, no that can’t be happening, please after all we’ve went through until here!” Hikaru let out almost scolding as he shook Daiki on his jacket.

“Guys, I am seriously sorry to interrupt, but we have some pretty huge problems here,” Myuto let out on which the others turned and they got slowly surrounded from all sides with just a few of the remaining Fire Foxes members fighting at the corners, but getting pushed towards their direction as well. What followed next was what they could have already seen coming, because why should the Avernus members even bother winning this fight fair when they had outnumbered them already and with their next move they had them all cornered and let two people step to the front, both of them carrying machine guns.

Kitayama let out a curse and held even tighter on Daiki instead of getting up. They wouldn’t be able to stop them anyway.

“Guess we’ll all be joined with Daiki sooner than we hoped,” Hikaru let out kind of bitter while he stood up and stepped in front of Kitayama. It wasn’t like he could save anyone at this point, but Kitayama was still his leader and he would at least die with pride.

Fukka and Myuto had frozen to the spot next to them and exchanged a look which made both of them chuckle.

“And here I thought we would one day rip each other apart at a tournament,” Fukka let out on which Myuto gave him a lopsided smile.

“Guess Taiga and Kentaro need new people to pick fights with from now on,” Myuto said and then the two men lifted the machine guns. None of them even flinched or tried to run. They were prepared.

***

After some impacts of grenades Tegoshi had found himself in the middle of a huge chaos where he suddenly couldn’t tell friend from foe anymore and it seemed like only the Exposers members still knew who to attack. But Tegoshi didn’t know all their faces so for now he tried to get out of the center of the fighting and soon he spotted another face from the tournament and he dashed towards the person. With a jump he attacked Sanada from behind, trying to kill him with one attack as he was lifting the knife he was still holding on to since he had killed Yasu. But this time he had miscalculated and he got tackled to the ground right before he reached the boy.

“And here I thought you fight club members were all about fairness,” Yara said while he tried to stop Tegoshi from hitting him with the knife. Yara was sitting on top of him while Sanada had realized what was going on and he hurried to help him and tried to pin Tegoshi’s arms down to get the knife.

“You are the last person to tell me about fairness,” Tegoshi hissed at him as he turned the knife around in his hand and pulled it up so that it sliced over Sanada’s arm as the boy tried to get it from him. That move made Yara punch him directly into the face and Tegoshi lost orientation for a moment until Yara tried to rip the knife out of his hand again. With a furious scream Tegoshi ordered his body to move and without knowing where he got the strength from he was able to lift his hips up under Yara’s weight and when the other one lost balance through that he grabbed his wrist and turned around, forcing the other one to move with him if he didn’t want his shoulder to get dislocated. As a side effect Yara landed half on Sanada who was falling to the back.

There was no moment of hesitation when Tegoshi sat up and jumped on Yara, burying the knife deep in his chest. Sanada let out a gasp on that and crawled backwards, but Tegoshi looked at him with a stare as cold as ice.

“Don’t even try to beg for mercy,” Tegoshi hissed as he pulled the knife out of Yara’s immobile body and walked over to the boy who seemed too scared to even get up on his feet and run. He wasn’t begging for his life and Tegoshi wouldn’t even care at this point anymore, but when he wanted to launch himself at him there was loud shouting next to them and the sudden sound of a machine gun made Tegoshi jump to the back, making it barely in time out of reach as the bullets slashed through the ground. When he looked to the boy again he almost had to laugh, because with their chaotic way of fighting the Avernus members kept killing their own members without even carrying. Sanada had been hit by some of the bullets and a small part of Tegoshi felt angry for not being the one who had ended his life, but when he looked up and found Takizawa not far from him he just stepped over Sanada’s dead body and kept moving.

A weird shiver went down his spine as he realized that Junta was with him as well. It had been Junta who killed Massu, but it had been Takizawa who had given the order to do so. If they had drawn another name someone else would have killed him, so he wanted all of them dead. Before their tournament against Avernus had happened he still had been somehow in control of his wish for revenge, but killing Yamashita had made something snap inside of him and he knew that there was no way he could ever go back to normal without getting rid of all the members which had been present at the tournament at the Tokyo West Fight Club.

“Oh what a surprise. Did you come to join your lover?” Takizawa greeted him as he realized Tegoshi’s presence. Instead of a direct answer Tegoshi attacked Takizawa head on, but the latter dodged his attack and jumped back.

“What a harsh greeting,” Takizawa scolded him on which Tegoshi’s look darkened even more. “Why do you want to get me anyway? He is the one who killed him,” Takizawa said as he pointed at Junta who gave him a scolding side glance, but of course he wasn’t the slightest feeling sorry about what he did.

“I don’t care who did it, you are all the same anyway. But you are the one who decided who to kill and that makes you my main target. Not that I wouldn’t kill the rest of your members as well. I already got rid of the other tournament members.”

“Oh, impressive,” Takizawa replied while clapping his hands and it made Tegoshi get even angrier. They didn’t care at all how many of their members were dying around them as long as they would take control over the Underground in the end.

Takizawa looked at Junta and made a move with his head which signaled the boy to move and they both started circling around Tegoshi.

When they attacked, Tegoshi tried to focus on one of them to get rid of one opponent right away, but when he turned his attention to Takizawa and lifted the knife Junta had already reached him and pulled his arm back. He tried to turn and make him let go, but Takizawa gave him a harsh kick against his knee making him hiss and almost lose balance. That short moment of losing his focus was enough for Junta to get the knife from him, but Tegoshi didn’t even try to go on distance. If he was about to lose the fight he could at least try and make sure to drag them with him.

Junta didn’t lose time to try and attack him with the knife, but Tegoshi succeeded in blocking his attack and take Junta by full surprise as he suddenly jumped at him and buried his teeth in his neck.

“FUCKING BASTARD LET GO,” Junta shouted and tried to push the other one away and just when he sunk the knife into Tegoshi’s arm the latter backed off, but kicked him away the same moment and swirled around aware of Takizawa being behind him and he crouched down to avoid the direct attack from him even though he didn’t know what was coming, but he had made the right decision, because out of nowhere Takizawa had pulled out a gun and had fired it right away. Tegoshi wasn’t even surprised by that move and he jumped up again, getting a grip on the gun right away and started struggling with Takizawa.

When he heard a curse from Junta as the boy got up again and dashed towards them with the knife, he put more weight on Takizawa’s arm and forced him to turn towards the other one’s direction and then he searched for the trigger and pulled it the moment Junta had reached them, leaving the boy crumbling to the ground.

“See what you’ve done. You know how hard it is to get strong members like him?” Takizawa scolded him on which Tegoshi’s rage level reached a maximum.

“HUMANS ARE NOT REPLACABLE!” Tegoshi shouted as he hit his elbow up against the other one’s head and for a moment he seemed to be able to get a hold on the gun, but then there was a huge impact next to them taking them both of their feet. For a moment there was an annoying ringing in his ears before Tegoshi was able to even regain orientation and he tried to sit up, but everything was spinning in front of his eyes. Before he could even make out his surroundings a bullet landed in his leg and he screamed out on the sudden pain. He turned around and at the same moment another bullet sank into his body, this time into his stomach and he let out a painful cough, trying to cover the wound with his hand.

“They are replaceable and they are also useless when they are weak, that is also why you will all die today,” Takizawa addressed him with the gun pointed at his head this time. The man was badly hurt, a wound on his head bleeding that strong that it seemed like he would lose consciousness any time now. One of his arms was badly burned through the grenade and he was limping, but he still had the upper hand, especially with Tegoshi not being able to get up easily which didn’t mean that he wouldn’t keep fighting.

Without a warning Takizawa pulled the trigger, but Tegoshi had been able to somehow dodge the attack even though he wasn’t sure how he had moved this fast. The bullet had scratched the side of his head, but like pushed into the fight he was able to ignore the pain. Taking his obvious last chance he kicked upwards and hit Takizawa against his hurt knee, which brought the other one to fall. With the next move Tegoshi got the gun and with the last bit of strength he crawled on top of the other one and pointed it directly at his forehead.

“Then welcome to the weak side,” Tegoshi said in an emotionless voice before he pulled the trigger.


	13. Chapter 13

The atmosphere around the Mugen hideout was eerie when they arrived and there was no one outside to guard the place.

“Don’t let your guard down at any moment. They could kill us all the moment we set foot in this building,” Ueda warned them. They were aware of the risk, but what else than entering could they do? They moved careful and slowly, checking every new door and corridor until they came towards the backdoors of the guest entrances for the first floor of the theater and heard voices from inside.

“Are they fighting?” Kentaro asked worried as he realized that some people were shouting in between, but Ueda shook his head.

“I don’t think so, but maybe something went wrong with their plan? That would actually give us an advantage. Let’s try to stay unnoticed for now.”

With that they dared to get closer to the door which was luckily half open and careful they all gathered around it.

The first person Kentaro’s look fell on was Aran and he stopped breathing for a moment. The boy looked everything but okay, bruises and cuts all over his face, bandages showing around his shoulders and hands, but at least he was alive that was everything Kentaro needed to know.

“What the hell is going on?”

Watanabe’s question made Kentaro finally spend more attention towards the other people in the room and first he saw Domoto shouting something at two of his members.

“Why are they still not back with Sakurai? Get him, now!”

With that the two left towards the back exit and the only ones left in the theater were next to Domoto and then Kentaro realized that it were Kouchi and Juri. When he realized the reason why Juri was sitting on the ground he gasped. Taiga was lying in his side, couching out blood while Juri was trying to hold him up on his shoulders. First none of them had actually realized that it was Taiga, because of his short hair.

“Don’t! Wait-,” Nikaido’s words reached him the same moment Ueda jumped up and Nikaido let out a curse, but he couldn’t actually judge him for blowing their cover. After all Domoto was awaiting them anyway and he would have reacted the same way if it had been Kentaro instead of Taiga.

“What did you do?” Ueda shouted through the room and everyone turned towards them, the boys’ eyes growing wide on the arrival of the fight club members. Kentaro wondered if Domoto hadn’t told them about his plan and why they had to wait with him in the hideout.

“Welcome-”

“Welcome my ass. WHAT DID YOU DO?” Ueda shouted at him and got ready to dash on stage and just rip the leader to pieces, but Nikaido held him back as they reached the first rows of the theater. He hadn’t missed Kochi’s and Aran’s moves as they both looked at Domoto and let their hands vanish inside the back of their jackets. The leader didn’t give them a signal, but that was for now. If they attacked liked this they could easily get killed.

“Believe it or not this one time there is nothing you can blame me for,” Domoto said almost proudly on which he got a dangerous growl from Ueda.

“What is that supposed to mean? You left the dirty work to someone else this time?” Miyadate hissed at him, but Domoto shook his head with an annoyed expression which showed them that this was definitely not one of his games or he would enjoy it.

“What you see here is Taiga’s until now luckily unsuccessful try to kill himself.”

That statement actually made Ueda stop struggling and he looked at Taiga with wide eyes. The boy had trouble to even look up at him and soon he looked away, letting out another painful cough with which he pulled his body even more together, making it clear in how much pain he was.

“Taiga, please hold on! Reo will find an antidote!” Juri was heard and that made Kentaro focus on him for a moment. Then he looked at Kochi and then at Aran. He had guessed a lot over the past weeks and here he was finally able to see some things with his own eyes and he felt relieved seeing their looks. Even though regarding Aran there was way more he had to find out about.

“A drug?” Nikaido asked in shock, but no one actually answered his question as Domoto stepped a bit to the front.

“Guess for one time you can’t deny that it’s a safer choice to leave Taiga with me. The possibility of Reo finding an antidote in time is way higher than for you to get him to one of your doctors which is if you make it out here alive in the first place.”

On that threat all their attention was back on the leader and they tensed, but after all they had been aware of his plan from the beginning.

“I am not sure if you are extraordinary brave to come here or just extremely naive,” Domoto let out with a lopsided smile. “But you see, now that I’ve to take Reo out of the fight for the sake of Taiga’s life we are one member short.”

“As if you go for a one on one fights. It doesn’t matter who has more members when you are the ones with the guns,” Kentaro snapped at him.

“Oh, I can’t deny that I was thinking about just ending it the fast way, you are right about that, but…” the leader turned and waved Kochi and Aran over to him and they handed him the guns they were carrying. He showed them to the fight club members before he threw them to the back until they hit the curtain at the end of the stage. “I want to have some fun, so let’s make this a bit more interesting.”

“Still playing your games,” Watanabe hissed at him.

“Be happy that I do or you would all be dead already. So we still have our problem of members though. I doubt one of you will voluntarily stay out of the fight?” Domoto asked on which there were a lot of annoyed looks hitting him. “Thought so.”

“I can fight two of them, I don’t mind.”

The offer came from Aran and it didn’t actually shock Kentaro anymore. He had seen how perfect he could wear the same type of mask as Reo.

“Brilliant idea,” Domoto said as he walked over to the boy and put his arm around his shoulders. “You want to choose your opponents then?”

The first one he pointed at was Watanabe, which made them believe that he would point as Miyadate next, but it came different and he pointed at Nikaido.

“What a confidence, I like that,” Domoto praised him before he went over to Kochi and made a gesture with his hand which told him to choose as well. Without any hesitation he pointed at Miyadate.

“Great, then Juri I guess you can leave Taiga alone for now.”

It wasn’t just the fact that he didn’t want to leave Taiga’s side in the state he was in, but also the shock when he realized that his opponent would be Kentaro which made him hesitate.

“Is it really a good idea to not have a look at him, what if is condition gets even more critical?” Juri asked.

“Don’t worry I will be right here next to him. I will have a look at him and he can also have a great look at our fight.”

On that the leader turned towards Ueda who was already throwing daggers at him with his eyes.

“Shall we then?” Invitingly Domoto stretched out one arm towards the stage and Ueda looked towards the other members with a warning look.

“Stay focused, all of you!” Ueda warned them and Kentaro didn’t miss the extra look he received. “Don’t try to win your fights as fast as possible just to come back here. To be honest I would like you to get to the Exposers to help there if you get the chance. After all you can see that you can’t actually help.”

It was something that made them feel defeated from the start, because what were they fighting for if they actually had to watch Taiga die if Reo couldn’t get an antidote ready in time or if they couldn’t get Sakurai back to the hideout? But there was something which actually made Kentaro believe that there was something going on which he didn’t know about. A brief look at the other members told him that they had realized it as well. It was Taiga’s look. He didn’t seem like he had given up just like this. It hadn’t been a desperate move, because he thought they couldn’t rescue him. But with them ending up in different fights for now they had to wait and see what was happening from now on.

“Let’s move towards another place, there is not enough space for all of us on stage,” Aran announced and jumped off the stage, moving towards a door on the right. Nikaido and Watanabe nodded at each other and started moving. Miyadate gave Watanabe a brief nod on which the boy gave him a lopsided smile and kept moving. Nikaido clapped Kentaro on the shoulder before he kept going.

“Don’t worry, it will be alright.”

Kentaro knew that this wasn’t just about Nikaido and Watanabe being alright and he felt grateful over the way Nikaido still tried to not see Aran as the ultimate enemy for Kentaro’s sake.

“You also better change to other floors or outside the building,” Domoto ordered on which Kochi walked away to another direction and Miyadate followed him in silence. Juri needed a moment longer to finally let go of Taiga and the boy let out a groan as Juri tried to put him down as careful as possible.

With hesitant steps he walked up to Kentaro and the direct glare he got from his former fight club member made him unable to look back and he kept moving towards the back exit with fast steps, not even checking if Kentaro was following him.

Kentaro turned towards Ueda once more, but the latter had already moved on stage, a determined look on his face. He could see how his eyes flickered to Taiga a few times. He actually faced the hardest fight, not just because of his opponent, but also because he was directly next to Taiga and couldn’t help him. Before Kentaro followed Juri he looked at Taiga once more and to his surprise the boy was looking back at him. Each time he saw one of his friends in such a bad condition it was hard for him to not interfere directly, but again Taiga’s look told him that it was okay to go. There was a weird confidence in his look and also something that could maybe be called relief? Kentaro could just guess what had brought that look on his face, but for now he needed to focus as well, because his fight wasn’t about winning against an enemy, but about finally getting someone back on the right path, not that he thought they have lost it in the first place.

“You seem a little bit tense,” Domoto addressed Ueda with one of his typical carefree smiles on which Ueda shot him another death glare. Then Ueda’s look fell on Taiga who wasn’t even able to get up on his own, but he tried to focus on their fight even though he had to close his eyes in between a few times and take a few deep breathes to not lose it over the pain. He hadn’t actually imagined it to get that painful and especially not that fast. It was like a continuous wave of a burning pain trying to rip his body apart from the inside.

“Let’s get this over with,” Ueda said as he moved forward with big steps, but then there was a fast movement at the end of the stage and for a brief moment he thought Domoto would after all just go with the plan of killing them without a fight, but instead of someone to attack him it was Reo who jumped on stage, but stopped a bit startled on the sigh of Ueda.

“You found something?” Domoto addressed him on which the boy lifted a small vial with a light blue colored liquid.

“It’s the first try so I can’t guarantee if it helps, but maybe it can slow down the progress,” Reo said before he moved over to Taiga, but gave Ueda a careful look before he dared to sit down next to him and helped him up with his head on his legs so that he could take the medicine. As expected Taiga refused to take the antidote, but in his condition Reo didn’t even have to make a big effort to force him to swallow it.

“Guess we won’t have an immediate reaction, so why not pass the time with our fight?” Domoto asked while he turned back to Ueda with a faint smile. Instead of facing Domoto though Ueda’s look kept resting on the boys for a moment and while Domoto faced them with their back he couldn’t see how Reo looked back at Ueda before he leaned down to whisper something into Taiga’s ear before he helped him lying down again and excused himself to try another antidote in case this one wouldn’t help. It had been the look in Reo’s eyes which made Ueda look over to the two guns at the end of the stage for a brief moment. The boy’s expression was always hard to read, but something was different from usual. It wasn’t just his trouble to balance his obedience to Domoto and his tries to help Taiga. He seemed worried and somehow restless and still here he kept his perfect mask while facing Domoto. What if Ueda could end things faster and with a high chance of winning this without Domoto getting a chance to use any weird tricks? It wasn’t like he would feel bad for not playing by the rules, after all Domoto always chose his own rules and bended them as he needed them to be the winner in the end.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Domoto was heard on which Ueda tensed and looked at him. Of course the leader knew what he was up to, but would he be able to stop him? Who was going to be faster? The guns were lying a bit separated, one closer to Ueda, the other one closer to Domoto.

The silence that followed was broken by Taiga who let out another cough and suddenly rolled on his stomach as a huge amount of blood left his mouth and he started to get problems breathing.

“Oh, so I guess that one wasn’t the medicine he needed,” Domoto let out while taking a brief look at the boy and that was when Ueda used his chance and he dashed to the back of the stage.

A long fight would just delay everything after all he didn’t give up on the chance to get Taiga back to their club. Miyata had always found something to help them, even when Kentaro had been drugged before.

He reached the guns without getting stopped and he picked one up and swirled around again, ready to shoot, but then he halted. The second gun was still lying next to him, but they hadn’t been the only guns in the room after all. With a victorious smile Domoto pointed another gun at Ueda.

“So you hadn’t planned from the start on fighting fair,” Ueda hissed at him while they both froze in their position.

“You think so? You know, exactly because of possibilities like these I am always carrying a gun, but who said I would have used it? The moment you broke the rules I could have just shot you from behind, but as you see I didn’t.”

“Too boring for you I guess?” Ueda shot back.

“You know, since you’ve walked in here I could see that the injury Kochi caused you is still not fine, but to be honest I am surprised that you survived the attack in the first place. You must have doubted him before the attack already.”

“What makes you think that?” Now Ueda was actually curious, because no he hadn’t doubt both boys and he hadn’t seen the first attack coming at all.

“Kochi is the same as Re, both are extremely precisely with their attacks. There is no way he would miss his chance of killing if it was a surprise attack.”

That was something Ueda was extremely relieved to hear, after all like that he didn’t have to worry as much about Miyadate and Kentaro’s fight anymore.

But now they were still stuck with their own fight, none of them would just put the gun aside with the danger of getting killed by the other one.

***

“What a location for a fight,” Watanabe let out as they had followed Aran through the building until the boy had led them to the rooftop. “You think you can just throw us off the building?”

“Don’t get annoyed before he even actually tries to annoy you,” Nikaido warned the boy on which he rolled his eyes.

Aran just crossed his arms to his chest as he turned towards them with an indifferent look. “You can try and throw me off it instead if you think you can do it.”

“Oh, trust me it would be my pleasure, but somehow I feel like beating you to death instead would be way more fitting to pay you back for everything you’ve done.”

That statement gave him another glare from Nikaido on which Watanabe finally stopped provoking the boy.

Nikaido kept scanning Aran’s look, but the boy had obviously retreated in the same kind of shell they were all stuck in. Was Domoto that good in brainwashing people? Was he able to make them stay obedient over years no matter where they went and what kind of people they met and the most important: no matter if they suddenly had to turn against their friends?

“Watanabe, I’ve to ask a favor of you,” Nikaido let out on which the other one looked at him curious. “Leave this fight to me.”

“Pardon?” Watanabe let out in disbelieve and he got ready to rebel, to make a huge scene to be allowed to fight together with him, but when Nikaido faced him he halted, sensing that this was not his place to demand revenge on Mugen, especially because Aran hadn’t caused him direct harm. He hadn’t even known him before they came to Tokyo.

“You should leave.”

“Leave? Where to? We are in the middle of a fight, why would I leave?” Watanabe let out startled on which Nikaido’s look suddenly turned a bit softer which made the latter stare back at him in even more disbelieve.

“Don’t you think there is a place you should be instead?”

First Watanabe didn’t understand, because hadn’t he just said he wouldn’t retreat form the fight, but then he realized that the fight wasn’t just here and that a lot of people were fighting at other locations. That was when he understood and his eyes widened, but before he could say anything Nikaido waved towards the stairs with a nod.

“Go, he is definitely already waiting for you.”

With that Watanabe gave Aran another look, but even though the boy had heard everything he didn’t seem like he wanted to stop him. After all it would be one opponent less for him.

“Thank you,” Watanabe said before he turned and ran for the stairs. He didn’t know exactly where to look, if he was with the fighters at the Exposers’ hideout or somewhere else, but with all of them being separated all over the city it was his best chance to finally get him back. Skipping as many steps as possible on his way down he hurried to the exit with a determined look.

“Wait for me, Saku!”

***  
Kochi stopped in the middle of a big room with some props in it. One side of the room had a few heavy mirrors hanging on it, which showed that it had been used for rehearsals before.

Without saying anything Kochi turned around and went directly into a defense stance on which Miyadate raised an eyebrow at him.

“You think you can keep running away through pretending that you are that cold hearted?”

Instead of a reply Kochi dashed forward and jumped into the first attack. Miyadate tried to dodge for now, but soon he needed to counter as well if he didn’t want to get cornered after a few minutes already. Sure Kochi was good at analyzing, but he was still not as strong as Miyadate when it came to a fair fight and now that he had no weapons to use he had the disadvantage of lacking physical strength.

“What do you want to prove?” Miyadate asked in between the boy’s attacks and when there was still no reaction he blocked his next attack and countered with a harsh kick into the boy’s stomach, making him fall and slide over the ground until he hit the mirror wall with his back. “Do you really think the others are that stupid? Even we realized that you are not the obedient Avernus member anymore which you pretend to be. Why can’t you just trust them?”

Still no answer when Kochi got up again and dashed into the next attack and slowly it made Miyadate angry. He had met the two boys while they were still pretending to be just normal fight club members, but when they had stopped them as they had attacked Ueda their characters had completely changed. But there was something about that change which they didn’t seem to realize themselves, but everyone else did, even those which didn’t know them that much. While their behavior from before was more than natural they tried so desperate to act as the bad guys now that it was more than obviously that they tried to fake their obedience towards Domoto.

“You know Kento told us about what he talked about with you two before, that you went back for Taiga’s sake. That you were afraid that if you changed sides at such a critical moment it would maybe cost his life.” When Kochi just kept attacking instead of showing any kind of reaction Miyadate had enough. He blocked the next punch and pushed Kochi against the mirrors with such a force that the boy let out a yelp while the mirror cracked behind him. “Guess while you are normally so awesome in talking things through, you might need to get brought back to sanity with some more effective methods this time.”

Before Kochi could even try to struggle Miyadate had pulled him away from the mirrors, but when he let go of him he did it just to spin around and give him such a powerful kick into the stomach that Kochi got pushed back once more against the mirrors and this time they shattered, small pieces falling down on the boy as he landed on his knees and held himself up on his hands. He didn’t dare to lift his head until the last piece had fallen to the ground. Slowly he picked one of the pieces up on which Miyadate took a step back.

“Playing unfair now?” Miyadate asked, but it came different than he thought as Kochi grabbed the piece with both hands and added so much force until his hands started bleeding. Miyadate gasped and could do nothing more put stare for now.

***


	14. Chapter 14

“Juri come on, stop,” Kentaro let out after he walked after Juri for quite a while. It seemed like the boy was trying to buy time through searching for a fitting place as long as possible. Hesitantly Juri stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “Do we really have to win against Avernus first to get you two back?”

It was the choice of words which made Juri turn around to him with a confused expression and Kentaro knew right away what his silent question was.

“Yes, Juri we want you back! I can’t speak for all members, but at least for our friends. Damn, even Ueda isn’t angry at you! We were all shocked and yes we were extremely disappointed and to be honest I still am, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t understand your reason!”

“You can’t win this fight and you should know that,” Juri let out in a low voice on which Kentaro took a threatening step forward and Juri replied with a step backwards.

“Right, as we weren’t able to win against the Fire Foxes you mean? Oh wait, there was actually a reason why we won even though we actually had no chance and that reason was you two!”

“It’s different this time.”

“Yes I know, I am not stupid, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are actually on our side even if you still pretend to be with Avernus.”

“That’s not tr-”

“Fuck this Juri! Cut out your stupid lies! I’ve no clue how scared you must be, but I’ve met someone who managed to get out and he did it alone, you don’t even have to do that! You have us! We will always help you if you ask for our help!”

It was obvious how much Juri was out of excuses, but the fear was still visible. It would be just one step, but it could also be his last one if he calculated wrong.

“Don’t you trust us?”

The question made Juri look up immediately and he shook his head. “Of course I do.”

The reply came without any hesitation and Juri bit his lip right away as he realized how easily Kentaro was able to influence him. But after all that wasn’t something bad and finally Kentaro could allow himself to feel a bit relieved. There had always been that part thinking of the possibility that they had betrayed them for good, that they didn’t even want to come back, but luckily that hadn’t been the case.

“If you do then there is no reason for a fight here.”

When Kentaro walked up to Juri the boy suddenly seemed to get stressed and he took a step back once more, not knowing what Kentaro was up to. When he stopped right in front of him Juri looked to the ground before Kentaro snapped his fingers right in front of his face on which he flinched and looked back up.

“If you trust us, we will pull you out no matter what! Don’t get scared by them whatever happens! You have to promise me that you won’t betray us again no matter what! Just if you can do that I can promise you to always be there for you!”

It didn’t surprise Kentaro that Juri hesitated. After all those years with Avernus it must be a quite heavy decision to put his trust in someone else. But hadn’t he seen what they were capable of when they all worked together? Hadn’t he just said himself that he trusted him and the fight club members?

When the boy still didn’t move Kentaro stretched his hand out towards him on which Juri looked at it with a troubled expression his thoughts obviously racing.

“I can fight you as well to make my point clear. Trust me even if you are in a higher fight class you should know by now that I won’t lose when it comes to protecting my friends.”

It was the small chuckle Juri released on that which made Kentaro finally smile. Slowly Juri’s inner struggle seemed to change and Kentaro could see the person again he had known for so long.

“Isn’t it amazing how easily I can make you cry with words?” Kentaro suddenly teased him on which Juri looked away, being aware of the fact that he was tearing up against his will. “Come on, idiot. You are bad in pretending to be tough anyway.

“Asshole,” Juri replied before he turned to face Kentaro directly and he grabbed Kentaro’s outstretched hand, pulling him into a tight hug which Kentaro responded to right away.

“Welcome back,” Kentaro whispered while Juri wasn’t able to talk anymore as he didn’t care anymore if Kentaro was going to make fun out of him later for crying. But that would actually never happen, because Kentaro was aware of how hard it must have been for Juri to break free from his past. All the bad and haunting memories he carried, the punishments they had seen and had gone through themselves, the executions of traitors they had to do with their own hands to make sure they wouldn’t dare to run. It was more than a bit of courage which was needed to grab the chance to get pulled out of that nightmare.

“Are you sure-”

“Let me stop you right there!” Kentaro scolded him and squeezed him once more before he pulled back. “I take your tears as a promise to never betray any of us ever again no matter what! But let me warn you if you do it will be your last time!”

It wasn’t actually sounding as scary as Kentaro wanted it to, but seeing that Juri also didn’t seem taken aback by that statement showed that he would stay true to his words.

“Then let’s go! We have to stop some other idiots from fighting as well!”

***

None of them moved and they waited for the two men in front of them to shoot and they lifted the guns higher on which Fukka and Myuto tensed.

The moment they pulled the trigger the men got hit by something and one stumbled through the impact directly to his head and the bullets missed them by inches as they all ducked away. The second one just seemed a bit confused and looked at the stone which was lying in front of him and had hit against his head as well, but obviously not with the same force, but luckily he had been slower with pulling the trigger and now everyone halted, not knowing what was actually going on.

“Great, you just ruined our entrance!”

“Be happy that I hit in the first place, how am I supposed to throw a stone with the same strength you have?”

It was the sound of familiar voices which made the fight club and triangle members turn towards them.

“You got to be kidding me and here we thought you have run off when we gathered everyone earlier,” Fukka let out scolding on which Shintaro formed a proud smile.

“I’d never do that! Okay I actually did, more or less, but it was out of a good reason!”

“Please don’t let that reason be involving Sou again in this battle, because as much as I love you boy, you alone won’t be of much help,” Myuto let out on which Sou who was standing next to Shintaro chuckled, but got a hit on the back of his head from Shintaro in return.

“To be honest he wasn’t even supposed to be here, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“You need every help you can find after all!” Sou complained.

“Ehm, guys. Sorry to disturb you, but I’d say we have bigger troubles here,” Hikaru interrupted them when he realized that the Storm Warriors seemed to have enough of their conversation and lifted their guns again.

“You won’t come far with just two of them,” Shintaro challenged them as they got directed towards him and Sou.

As excepted the two men didn’t take his threat serious and got ready to shoot when they got hit by several items this time. Heavy stones and even metal bars got suddenly tossed at them and Kitayama and the others looked up to the roof tops of the buildings alongside the street with a disbelieving look. Dozens of people had shown up of nowhere, faces they had never seen before.

“Who are they?” Fukka asked Shintaro who crossed his arms proudly to his chest. “You know when we brought Sou to Chiba with his family he took on a mission for us. Gathering as many fight club members as possible which were left after the Mugen attacks and this is the result.”

“Wow boy, you are helpful after all,” Myuto admitted on which Sou stuck out his tongue towards him.

“We didn’t know all the Tokyo members of the fight clubs and Titanium Triangle good enough to share this information with you guys, sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry idiot! You just rescued a lot of asses! We should get done here and go help the Exposers!” Hikaru added on Shintaro’s apology.

“No need for that,” Sou explained while the Storm Warrior members slowly tried to retreat, after all they had realized that they would get outnumbered at this rate, but the fight club members were all having their eyes set on them like wild beasts, waiting for their chance to take revenge on those who destroyed what they had built up.

“What do you mean?” Kitayama asked worried, after all he knew his men wouldn’t be enough to help Kamenashi and the others.

Shintaro and Sou exchanged a knowing look the same moment the fight club members got down from the roofs and attacked the Storm Warriors.

“We weren’t the only ones on a mission!”

***

All the sounds around Tegoshi couldn’t reach his ears clearly anymore. He felt how his body turned numb, but he didn’t bother to ask anyone for help. The fight was far from being over and it seemed like the Exposers would get outnumbered at some point. First Tegoshi spotted Inoo, so the Fire Foxes members had come to help as good as they could, but it seemed still hopeless. Then there was Kamenashi who didn’t bother to stand back, instead he fought at the frontline with his men. Apart from the fact that he seemed pretty hurt already, with a bleeding wound at the side of his head and burn marks on his arm which were definitely caused by one of their bombs, he still didn’t seem like he wanted to give up.

“Truly like a family,” Tegoshi whispered before he had to lean to the front as he coughed out blood. He didn’t even bother anymore to somehow stop his wounds from bleeding, it didn’t matter anymore.

“I hope you can forgive me,” Tegoshi let out in a broken voice before he formed a smile with shaking lips. “You would have told me that revenge wasn’t the right way, but I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to just go on like this…”

Suddenly he heard steps around him and when he looked up Avernus members were standing around him, all of them pointing guns at him. Tegoshi wasn’t afraid, nothing could scare him anymore. He had done what he thought was the only thing that could bring him peace, but he hadn’t made this decision to live a lonely life after being done with it.

“Get over with it.”

Tegoshi closed his eyes and waited, but the sudden sound that followed were no gunshots, but people shouting and once more Tegoshi opened his eyes, finding someone in front of him, with his back turned towards him. He and some others had fought off the Avernus members in no time, but didn’t turn towards Tegoshi.

“You know that he would have continued without you, right?” The other one said and while Tegoshi’s senses slowly gave up on him he could recognize his voice right away.

“You don’t know that.”

“But you do, so instead of going on a suicide mission why don’t you keep fighting like he would want you to?”

When there was no answer the other one finally turned around. Ryo glared down at him with an angry stare, which Tegoshi could understand, but didn’t mind at all. He wasn’t feeling guilty for what he had decided to do.

“Guess he can scold me soon himself,” Tegoshi said with a faint smile before he collapsed to the front, but Ryo caught him.

“Sorry, but he has to wait for a bit longer!”

Tegoshi didn’t really understand what he meant, but his senses were giving up on him for good and when Ryo lifted him up the only thing he realized was that Kamenashi suddenly stood in front of them.

***

“Don’t let them get away! We can’t risk that they will interfere at another location! We’ve to outnumber them,” Kitayama shouted at his members, but they had already gotten the upper hand, with just a few members seriously fighting back and most of them trying to flee.

Sou dashed after someone who tried to get away and jumped him in the back so that he stumbled to the front. When he got up again and turned to attack Sou he was knocked unconsciously from Shintaro.

“First they make such a ruckus and then they run away, no fun at all.”

Sou had to smile on the weird excitement Shintaro showed while fighting those which had turned his life into hell before. “Hey, Myuto leave some of them to me, I am still not done kicking asses!” With that Shintaro dashed towards Myuto and Fukka which were chasing after other members.

A shot close to Sou made him flinch and when he turned towards the spot he had heard it from he saw one of their own people on the ground, holding his leg in pain. The one who stood in front of him was Ren and as much as he tried to keep a poker face it was obvious that he was over challenged with the situation, but that also made him dangerous, because he grabbed his own hair with a grimace as if he was in physical pain which was obviously not the case before he lifted the gun to the person’s head.

“Stop it!” Sou interfered as he approached the boy and first Ren swirled around ready to shoot whoever got close to him, but then his eyes went wide when he realized that it was Sou.

“What the hell are you doing here? This is no place for someone like you!”

“But for you?”

“Are you now making fun out of me? After all we Storm Warriors did to you, why the heck did you come back here?”

“Maybe to prevent you from losing your mind?”

It wasn’t actually a lie, but also not the truth. After all it was just a coincidence that he had even ended up at the same location at him and he could have died in the fight without Sou even realizing it, but the fact that they ended up facing each other again was a chance for him to try and safe someone he thought could make a fresh start in his life.

The fighting around them made it hard to focus and Ren seemed ready to just shoot wild around him so Sou started moving away from him with slow steps on which the latter grabbed the gun with such a tight grip that his hands started shaking.

“What are up to?”

“Retreating maybe? Don’t you think it’s a stupid idea to stand in the middle of a battlefield and talk?”

“You are our enemy why should I even waste time talking to you?”

“But isn’t that exactly what you are doing right now?”

Sou dared to make another step back on Ren’s hesitant and slightly confused look and once more the boy moved his hand to his hair, closing his eyes with a groan as if he had an extremely tormenting headache.

With a curse Ren lowered his gun and made a step forward, which made Sou form a brief relieved smile. He would just need a moment to talk to the boy and he was sure he would be able to change his mind about the whole situation. He didn’t seem like the person who was one of the psycho killers this troop definitely had a lot of.

Once more the boy stopped and looked up at Sou with an almost scared look before he suddenly made a step back again and shook his head. A low chuckle followed and Sou could see the boy’s inner fight clearly.

“It wouldn’t make a difference. It was so stupid to even think about the possibility to get out. Why did I even have that stupid talk with Aran, we both know that no one would accept us after all we did. Changing sides now would make no sense.”

It was more of a monolog, but Sou understood the problem and he shook his head. “That’s not true. I would accept you.”

A trap that was how it must have seemed to Ren in his instable state, but Sou didn’t want to give up. It wasn’t like he was that found of Ren and he would partly never forgive him for dragging him into this mess, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t deserve a second chance.

“You can’t even imagine what I did in my life. How it destroyed me and turned me into a person which can’t be saved.”

“You never let someone try, so why not take this chance?” Sou asked as he stretched his arm out towards him. “I know that I might not be strong enough to protect you or wise enough to tell you how to go on from now on, but I am forgiving enough to accept you as the person you are and see beyond all the cruelty which you were forced to live through.”

Finally Ren’s eyes cleared a bit and it seemed like sanity was slowly getting the upper hand, but for another while he remained skeptical, but he had at least lowered the gun.

“You’ve no clue what I am capable of,” Ren whispered.

“No maybe I don’t, but does that mean I’ve to give up on you from the start? Does that mean you can’t change?”

It was clear how much Ren suddenly fought against himself, his eyes fixed on Sou’s hand as he dared to make a few slow steps to the front.

Sou had no clue how he was supposed to even get Ren out of there without him getting killed by his side of the Underground, after all there were a lot of people which would never forgive any Avernus member for what they have done and of course Sou had his own past with them, with Ren and all his threats against him and his family, but he was just a boy after all, just like him.

“Give me the gun, Ren,” Sou tried his luck as he also dared to make a step forward and to his surprise Ren seemed calm enough to consider that option, but faith wasn’t on their side.

Loud shouting behind Sou made him swirl around and two other Avernus members were close behind him, both pointing guns at him and he couldn’t even think of any reaction before a shot fell, then a second one.

On the sound he had closed his eyes, but somehow the sound was closer than he had expected it and there was no pain. Carefully he opened his eyes again, finding the two men dead on the ground, both with a bullet precisely in their forehead.

A weird chuckle behind him made him turn his head and he found Ren’s arm stretched over his shoulder with the gun in his now stable hand. When he carefully turned back to him there was nothing of the regained sanity left in his eyes.

A creepy smile was on his face and he eyed the gun in his own hands, his movements steady and without any doubts.

“We won’t be able to change. They made sure to give us no point of return.”

Another monolog, but Sou didn’t want to give up and he made a step to the front on which Ren lifted the gun at him once more.

“Please Ren listen-”

“No, there is nothing to say anymore which would change anything,” Ren said with a cold look. “You know when I held my first gun? It was when I was nine years old and we were in the middle of war. I was one of those who got trained to fight even though we were way too young to be even allowed in any army fights. But still, when soldiers marched in our area we fought. Those who were too scared to fight died! I survived!”

A nostalgic, almost proud look appeared on his face and he stroke over the gun as if it was something so precious to him that he would never be able to go on without it.

“The rifle I held back then was taller than I was and still I was able to kill people with it which were way taller and stronger than me. This gun I got when I entered Avernus, it’s the only thing in my life I can trust.”

“Ren please…”

The boy shook his head and made a few steps back, but the smile wasn’t leaving his face while he lowered the gun. “Someone like me will never be able to live a common life.”

Sou wanted to interrupt him, but Ren didn’t give him the chance. “But seeing how much effort you put in this I can tell that my decisions were wrong, that I am actually a really bad person and hurt a lot of people in my life, like you.”

It was the sudden tension which made a shiver ran down Sou’s back, but he didn’t dare to move. All he could do was looking back at Ren, hoping that the boy would somehow find his way back to the surface, but somehow it felt like a farewell. He shook his head and wanted to make a last attempt to talk him out of his dark place, but then Ren’s smile brightened up and he halted. Sure they were both just boys, but that smile made him look even younger than him. Free from any sin, a normal boy, as if nothing bad had ever happened in his life, that was how he looked at him. A last look before he lifted the gun up to his own head.

“Thank you Sou.”

The moment the boy shot, didn’t shock Sou as much as it maybe should have. All he could do was staring at Ren’s body on the ground. Weirdly enough he didn’t feel sad, but what made him question his own sanity was the fact that he felt like he had somehow rescued him after all. Like that last thank you was for showing him that he could have been just a normal boy like Sou if faith wouldn’t have pulled him on a darker path.

“I hope you get a chance to show that smile to a lot of people in your next life,” Sou whispered before he took a deep breath and turned away.


	15. Chapter 15

“You should know best where to look for them, it’s your hideout,” Kentaro said to Juri as they searched the building for the others. They had decided to not try and interfere in Ueda’s fight for now. If they were seen it could make everything worse than better.

“Do you know how huge this place is?” Juri asked while they went up to the next floor. But before Kentaro could answer something they heard something shatter and they both flinched on the noise, which was obviously coming from a room at the end of the corridor.

They looked at each other with slight hesitation, but when they heard shouting and another shattering sound they finally moved and took a look inside the room.

“What the…” Kentaro stared with wide eyes to the floor of the room which was covered with fragments of the mirrors which had been covering one of the walls before. Now half the wall had been torn to the ground, some of the fragments being stained with blood, obviously Miyadate’s and Kochi’s blood.

Before the other boys noticed them Miyadate kicked Kochi against the wall on which some more fragments fell down and left some cuts on Kochi’s arm. Just a few new ones next to a lot already.

“Guys, stop!” Kentaro yelled as Miyadate got ready to dash forward again when Kochi jumped forward and picked up a piece of the mirror from the ground, ready to attack the latter with it.

They both jumped back on the sudden interference and while Miyadate didn’t seem that surprised Kochi had suddenly frozen to the spot. It was obvious that it wasn’t Kentaro’s appearance which had confused him, but the fact that Juri was with him and the younger one gave him an almost apologizing look, as if he had broken a promise and made his friend loose trust in him.

“Kentaro, what are you doing here. What is he doing here?” Miyadate asked while still eyeing Kochi carefully. The latter was unpredictable that was for sure. When they had started their fight the boy had just been silent, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t counter and soon their fight had escalated. Both of them had used the mirror parts as a weapon at some point and Kochi had almost succeeded in slicing Miyadate’s throat once, since then Miyadate had been sure that the boy had betrayed them for good, but somehow Kentaro’s look told him that he still had some hope, especially because he seemed to have convinced Juri to stop fighting.

“Long story, let’s just say for now you can be sure he won’t attack you.” Kentaro explained before he turned to Kochi. “And that is why you should also stop fighting! Kochi, we know that you are not the killer machine you want to make us believe. Whatever reason it is which makes it so hard for you to come back please let us find a solution together!”

“There is no solution, because there is no problem!”

Kochi still tried to keep up his perfect mask, but Kentaro could finally look beyond it and he saw how much the boy struggled to stay in his neutral behavior and pretend that he was indeed still nothing more than a brainwashed Avernus member.

“Then maybe I have to create a problem first to solve it? You know I am extremely good at that!”

Kentaro and Juri exchanged a confused look when they realized that no one in the room had said those words, but when they saw Kochi’s shocked expression towards the door they both turned around.

This time it was Kentaro who looked confused, but also almost proud at the two boys who entered the room and he formed a grateful smile. “Fuma, Kento! You came back!”

“We never really left,” Fuma said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave the boy a lopsided smile.

“We left the city though,” Kento explained a bit more detailed. “We went to Osaka to get help from the fight clubs down there, while Shintaro and Sou went to the remaining clubs around Chiba to find people to help.”

“Wait, Sou came back as well?”

“I am not sure if he came back with them, but he was involved in the plan, yes. We talked to Shintaro about everything, but the boy had heard us and wanted to help.”

“And after everything he went through I’ve to say he is extremely brave to even offer to get involved again,” Fuma added and then his look fell on Juri who automatically made a step backwards, but got stopped by Kentaro’s hand on his elbow.

“You should know better than run away,” Kentaro warned him on which Juri gulped nervously and looked up at the other two which gave him a curious yet scolding look as he dared to step forward again. With a deep breath he bowed so deep that he had to use his hands on his knees to stabilize himself.

“I am so-”

Before he could end his sentence Fuma had stepped forward and hit him on the back of the head and that not careful. Juri whined and put his hands protectively over his head.

“We know that you are sorry you moron!” Fuma scolded him on which Juri stood up straight again, but he still eyed the others with a careful expression. With the next move Fuma pulled him closer on the collar and Juri shut his eyes intuitively, afraid of receiving a punch in the face. “I swear if you betray us ever again, no matter out of what stupid reason, I will be the one to skin you alive!”

There was nothing, absolutely nothing amusing or joking on Fuma’s face. The latter was dead serious and it was more than clear. Juri could just nod, because there was nothing else for him to say. They didn’t seem to want him to apologize, what they wanted was his trust.

“So for now let me beat some sense into our second troublemaker.”

When Fuma let go of Juri and stepped forward, facing Kochi, they all exchanged worried looks before Kento stepped forward and clapped Juri on the shoulder.

“Why don’t you show the other two where to find the others? If I got this correctly some others are in the building as well, right? Go and help them, we will follow you when we are done here.”

It was weird to see Kento so determined and also so serious. There was no carefree smile on his face like usual. It wasn’t a question he had just posted, it was a decision he had made and the others should be able to read the atmosphere and retreat for now. And knowing them good enough Kentaro trusted them and pushed Juri towards the door.

“Miyadate, let’s go!”

The latter was a bit confused about the sudden stop of his fight, but Kochi didn’t move when he retreated. He had several bleeding wounds to treat, so he could feel lucky about the given break, but who knew what would await Kochi from this point?

“Give him a chance, I gave Juri one as well,” Kentaro said towards Kento and the latter nodded.

“Fuma will make sure that he gets his chance to change his mind, I can’t guarantee though that it won’t hurt.”

This time there was a bit of the teasing back in his voice and Kentaro gave him a brief smile and looked at Fuma’s back. The boy was already facing Kochi, the other one an unreadable cold expression on his face.

“I trust you guys, please make sure that you all come back safely!”

On that Kento finally gave him a wide smile and nodded. “All of us, I promise you!”

***

Watanabe found himself in the same huge chaos which Avernus had created in front of the Fire Foxes hideout before, but this time it seemed hard to get the upper hand for the remaining members of the Titanium Triangle.

He was sure that Kitayama and the others should be around somewhere, but he had no time to look for anyone, because the only reason he had come for was searching for Saku and so he dashed through the open space in front of the Exposers’ hideout.

People were fighting outside the building as well, but after he couldn’t spot Saku he decided to head inside the building for now, at least he would have more possibilities to hide there and not get in any unnecessary fights.

After a few minutes of dashing through some corridors, fighting off the few Avernus members which got in his way he heard some gun shots and made sure to move to another direction. He focused so much on not getting followed that he missed that someone suddenly blocked his way. He stopped abruptly when he turned and jumped back at the last moment before the knife that was aiming for his chest could stab him.

“What a shame and here I thought I could get rid of you right away,” the familiar voice was heard and Watanabe glared up at Hagiya who gave him a lopsided smile.

“You are getting more annoying each time I meet you,” Watanabe growled at him before he made a step back on which Hagiya shook his head.

“Don’t even try to run. Let me warn you I am quite good at aiming when throwing knives.”

There was no reason to doubt that and a knife in his back wasn’t really what Watanabe wanted, but a long fight was also not on his to do list.

“Can’t you go on someone else’s nerves?”

“Oh trust me I am actually just here to look for someone then I will head back to the hideout, so let’s get over this fast, because I also have better things to do.”

Both got ready to attack when there were loud voices heard from the floor above them. The staircase above them was a metal one and they could see the people walking above them. A boy was chasing after someone and pulled him back, kicking him to the ground, but another person caught up to him and pushed him down the stairs. With a loud curse the boy landed right between them.

“Bastard!” The boy hissed before he wanted to dash upstairs again, but two more people had arrived upstairs and they seemed to be on his side, because they took care of his attacker. “Perfect, of to the next- oh….”

The boy had turned towards Watanabe’s direction before he even realized that someone had been next to him. Carefully he turned around, halting again when he saw Hagiya with the knife.

“Great, so who do I have to attack now?”

Instead of letting anyone explain on which side they were he suddenly mumbled some words while pointing his finger from one to the other and then it stopped on Watanabe. “Sorry, let’s go with you for now!”

Watanabe couldn’t even tell if the boy was with the Exposers or Avernus and so for now he would just fight back, but the boy’s attack was stopped abruptly when one of the other boys jumped down the stairs and grabbed him on the back of his collar, making him chough.

“Idiot, when will you learn how to observe,” the other one scolded him before he turned him towards Hagiya. A third boy stepped down the stairs and snapped his fingers towards Hagiya’s direction.

“Time to play!”

Both boys wanted to dash at Hagiya, but the boy rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “I am not here to play with you, sorry.”

Without a warning he threw his knife at them and all of them ducked away.

“HEY, YOU- What? The coward ran? WAIT!” The impatient boy from before shouted before he dashed towards the direction Hagiya had run off to his friend right behind him.

“Hirano, wait! Stop dashing after everyone! Same for you Kami-chan, hey are you even listening?” The third one shouted after them, but both boys were out of sight in no time and he sighed, rubbing his temples before he remembered that Watanabe was still standing next to him.

“Ehm, sorry about that. I guess you are with the Exposers or the fight clubs?”

“More or less, yes. And you are?” Watanabe asked carefully even though it was clear that he was definitely not with Avernus or Hagiya would have known them.

“My name is Yuma, I am a member of the Osaka fight club as are the two you just saw. Kento and Fuma asked us for help.”

“What? So that is why they left!” Watanabe let out while shaking his head. He didn’t really know the boys, but he had sensed that Kentaro and the others were a bit disappointed when they had left in the middle of the chaos.

“Need some help?”

“Eh?”

“I mean are you just fighting through the building randomly or for a purpose?” Yuma asked more directly now, because the boy was a good observer after all.

“Actually I am searching for a friend whose been held captive at Avernus.”

“If you don’t mind I can help you finding him? At least I can make sure no one will attack you while you keep looking for him?”

“As long as I can be sure that you are not the one attacking me I’d appreciate your help a lot.”

“Don’t worry as many traitors as we had between us recently I will make sure to keep up the honor of the fight clubs,” Yuma promised with a light bow and somehow Watanabe was completely convinced that he could trust him.

***

“Are you sure they are not on the lower floors?” Kentaro asked when they had come to the last floor in the building already without finding anyone else.

“I know of no other place where there would be enough space for fighting,” Juri admitted as he kept running towards the last stairs on their way, up to the rooftop.

Miyadate followed them in silence, but he always kept a look on Juri, after all they had no time to actually talk about what had happened or why they had betrayed them, so for now he could just believe Kentaro’s words that he could trust Juri.

“If they are not here, we have to-”

When Juri opened the door towards the roof while talking he was interrupted by someone landing half on top of him and that with such a force that he almost fell down the stairs behind him. Kentaro and Miyadate halted, but then Kentaro dashed forward as the person on top of Juri wanted to get up again as if nothing had happened.

“Aran, wait! What are you doing?” Kentaro asked as he grabbed him by the wrist, but the boy ignored him and pulled his arm free before dashing back on the rooftop.

Kentaro ran after him while Miyadate helped Juri up and followed him.

Right in front of them Aran dashed into the next attack, which got blocked by Nikaido and once more the boy got pushed away, this time falling dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

“Stop it!”

On Kentaro’s shouting Nikaido halted, obviously confused about the sudden appearance of all three boys, but Aran didn’t care and got up once more. To everyone’s surprise Juri suddenly dashed forward and tackled the boy to the ground before he could attack Nikaido again.

The fight hadn’t been going on for long as it seemed, none of them had any bad injuries and Aran hadn’t been able to use his special attack, but Kentaro still wanted to stop any unnecessary fight as fast as possible. Not to forget that Aran was still badly hurt from the explosion and he was obviously not standing a chance against Nikaido this time in the first place.

“Get off me!” Aran hissed not even bothering to ask the other one why he had suddenly changed sides, maybe he had seen it coming already.

“Just if you promise to sit and listen and I know you well enough to be sure that you can’t do that, so no I am not getting off,” Juri shouted back and tried his best to hold the boy down.

“What’s going on?” Nikaido asked Kentaro with a confused expression.

“Long story. You can trust Juri, he won’t do anything stupid anymore I am sure of it! And Kochi won’t either after Fuma is done with him.”

“Fuma?”

Somehow Nikaido’s look made a proud smile appear on the boy’s face. After all it wasn’t just him who was happy about them showing up again and the way Nikaido’s face brightened up a bit showed that he was also positively surprised.

“Where is Watanabe?” Miyadate interrupted.

“I send him away. He went to the Exposers hideout to search for Saku.”

“Alone?” Miyadate asked with a shocked expression on which Kentaro turned towards him.

“You better go find him! We will be fine, don’t worry.”

There was no way Miyadate would let that opportunity pass and he nodded at them before he turned on his heels and started running.

A yelp from the other direction made both turn back to Juri and Aran. Juri was lying next to Aran, one hand pressed against one eye where Aran had obviously just hit him quite hard so that he would let go of him. But when Aran shot up again it was Kentaro who stepped forward before Nikaido could interfere.

“Kentaro, get out of the way,” the younger one hissed, but Kentaro shook his head.

“There is no reason to fight anyone of us, but if you want to fight that badly I will be your opponent.”

“Kentaro-”

“It’s okay!” Kentaro interrupted Nikaido and nodded at him. He couldn’t even explain where the confidence had come from all of a sudden. It wasn’t like he thought he could win against Aran or fight him seriously in the first place, but this was his chance to face him straight onwards and it was now or never! “Please Nikaido let me handle this alone. Would you trust me one more time?”

The look he received from his protector hurt like a thousand needles piercing through his body. Yes, he wanted to trust him, but he could also see the doubt mixed with worry.

Nikaido looked towards Aran, but the latter’s eyes were fixed on Kentaro. The disbelieve on his face was definitely having the upper hand, but fear was visible as well. It was obviously that he didn’t want to face Kentaro and that was exactly why Nikaido nodded.

“Fine, this is a fight no one else can compete in for you, so you better win it on your own.”

A brief silence followed on Nikaido’s words and Kentaro nodded slowly, thanking his protector with just his look for trusting him one more time.

“Juri, let’s go!” Nikaido shouted over to the boy who was up on his feet again. He halted for a moment, looking from Aran to Kentaro with a worried expression before Kentaro gave him a smile.

“It’s ok, leave this to me. Please help where you can!” Kentaro asked of his friend and Juri nodded before he ran after Nikaido, even though it was obvious that he didn’t want to leave them alone at such a critical moment.


	16. Chapter 16

“So what shall we do now?” Domoto asked with a lopsided smile while Ueda kept pointing the gun at him the same way Domoto pointed his at the latter. They were stuck in this situation for quite a while, but shooting would definitely result with the other one shooting as well, so they would both end up badly hurt or dead, it was a dead end.

Another painful cough from Taiga was heard next to them, but the situation was too dangerous to even spend him any attention even though Ueda cursed inside every time he realized that Taiga’s condition got worse and worse.

His focus was so much on Domoto that he had shut not just Taiga out, but everything that was going on around him, which resulted in him being more than shocked when a gunshot fell while Domoto’s hand didn’t even move. An impact on his hand made him jolt and fall to the back, but luckily he realized soon that it had been his gun which had been shot out of his hand and not his hand directly.

“Always the right timing,” Domoto was heard with a chuckle when he lowered his own gun and picked up Ueda’s which had landed close to him.

Ueda looked over to the side of the stage where Reo had shown up again. The boy was holding a gun as well and had obviously been the one to shoot the gun out of his hand.

“Any progress?” Domoto asked the boy as he walked over to Taiga as if he had done nothing at all and dropped to his knees, putting the gun next to Taiga before he gave him an injection in the arm.

“This one should work at least better than the first one, but I can’t guarantee that it will be more than a time saver.”

“Then you better hurry and mix something better together,” Domoto said warningly on which Reo got up and bowed, before he vanished backstage once more.

“So, seems like we could actually turn this into a real fight after all?” Domoto addressed Ueda with a fake smile before he dropped both guns and kicked them off the stage.

“I wonder if you are just stupid or truly insane,” Ueda mocked him, because even though he was happy that Domoto hadn’t just killed him it was a quite stupid move to strip himself of all the advantages.

“I don’t like unfair fights, you know?”

“Oh right, you prefer letting other people do the dirty work for you and let me tell you that kidnapping people is not a fair fight.”

“Hey, Taiga had a lot of opportunities to fight. It wasn’t like I tied him up. Okay, I tied him to the bed once, but that was his own fault.”

Ueda’s look darkened to a dangerous degree on hearing that and he had finally run out of patience and dashed forward. Domoto had seen his attack coming and dodged his first attack easily, but as angry as Ueda was he was also concentrated. He knew how important this fight was, not just for Taiga, but for the whole Underground. He had to win, no matter what!

“As expected of the trainer of the strongest fight club in Tokyo,” Domoto praised him after Ueda had succeeded in getting through his defense and hit quite a few strong punches, but the same applied for the Avernus leader.

Their fight was even for some time, but Ueda could tell that one direct hit was enough to cause a lot of damage. Unfortunately Domoto didn’t seem to be just high and mighty words. He had fought his way to the top of the Underground and that definitely with his bare fists at first. No matter how many people he had under his command now and how unfair he was fighting with his weapons, he was a dangerous opponent.

With a hiss Ueda pulled away, when Domoto blocked one of his attacks and landed a punch under his ribs.

“Oh, sorry, was that a weak spot?” Domoto asked mockingly and even though he didn’t know exactly where Ueda’s wound was he could tell that he had aimed perfectly on the wound Kochi had caused him before.

Ueda tried to go on distance for a moment, but of course the other one used his weak moment for his advantages and wouldn’t let him run away.

Ueda tried to keep him on distance with a few kicks and twisted away from him, but slowly Domoto got the upper hand and when he got in close range Ueda’s next punch was blocked and Domoto kept a hold on his arm. Ueda wanted to lunge out with his other arm, but once more Domoto aimed for his wound and with another hiss Ueda was forced to bend to the front on which Domoto grabbed him by the hair and twisted one arm on his back.

“Are you getting unconcentrated?”

Instead of replying Ueda tried to free his arm, but that move just made Domoto give it a hard pull and the latter gritted his teeth, not sure if Domoto would actually have enough strength to break his arm like this.

They struggled for a moment and Ueda succeeded in somehow turning around, but once more Domoto blocked his attacks and countered with some quite hard punches and an attack with his knee into his stomach which left Ueda without breath for a moment.

Domoto didn’t let go of him at all, always keeping at least one arm somehow in his grip, so that Ueda couldn’t get on distance and couldn’t freely attack.

“As much as I enjoy having a worthy opponent for once, I have to admit that I’ve to take care of some things and I bet you also would approve of me finding a solution to Taiga’s drug problem.”

This was the weakest spot Domoto could hit in this fight and Ueda looked over to Taiga once more. For a while now they had focused so much on their fight that he had no time to even check up on him which actually made him freeze to the spot when he realized that Taiga wasn’t moving and soon Domoto also followed his look.

“Oh, too late already?”

The mocking sound was what made Ueda finally freak and he screamed out before he ripped his arm out of the latter’s grip and dashed into the next attack. His punches were strong and definitely effective, but his body couldn’t keep up with his rage and he knew he would soon get slower and his strength wouldn’t be enough to win the fight if he couldn’t do it fast.

His biggest advantage was that he could still stay concentrated no matter how outraged he was an he brought Domoto out of balance, kicking him to the ground and immediately jumping on top of him to throw as many punches to his face as possible.

It was the first time that Domoto actually seemed inferior and tried to get away from him, but Ueda wouldn’t let off him no matter what. Time was the biggest problem and he needed to get Taiga out right away or it would be too late.

“So much willpower and that all for one stupid boy,” Domoto kept mocking him even though he had to take in some pretty hard attacks while he couldn’t even block half of them.

“Shut up, you don’t know the value of a human life in common. How would you even understand the value of someone you treasure more than your own life?”

There was a sudden change of emotions on Domoto’s face and a creepy smile found its way on his lips, the blood leaving his mouth corners on that move making him look more of a demon than a human.

“Then maybe your life is what it takes to save him?”

Before Ueda could reply anything to that Domoto twisted around and succeeded in bringing Ueda out of balance. With the next move he kicked him away so that he landed on his back. When Domoto jumped up he moved one hand to one of his boots, pulling out a hidden dagger. Without any hesitation he jumped on Ueda, striking the dagger down several times and even though Ueda succeeded in somehow stopping him from causing huge damage he couldn’t protect himself from several cuts over his arms and when he couldn’t stop the latter’s arm one time Domoto put all his weight to the front, bringing the dagger down right in front of Ueda’s throat while the latter struggled to keep it away as much as possible, but there were barely centimeters between the sharp blade and his skin.

“Come on, you said he is more precious than your life, right? If you die I can take better care of his treatment, so why don’t you just die?”

“Didn’t you say you don’t like unfair fights?” Ueda replied instead, but Domoto didn’t seem to care about that topic anymore and just shrugged his shoulders.

“No one needs to know that I won unfair, right? And now it’s time to say good-bye.”

Domoto yanked his arms free once more and wanted to stab the knife down with all his might. With this short distance Ueda wouldn’t be able to stop a fatal attack, but he still tried to focus on the knife and somehow block it when Domoto moved it down.

It was that moment when another gunshot made him jolt, but this time it was Domoto who yelped and suddenly fell to the side. Ueda reacted immediately and crawled away from him, taking the knife from the other one on the way.

Domoto held his leg in pain, blood dropping down between his fingers. It took Ueda several moments to understand what had happened and he lifted his gaze, looking over Domoto towards the person holding the gun with shaking hands.

“Taiga….” he whispered in disbelieve and while he still couldn’t make sense out of the situation he still felt like a huge stone had finally fall of his chest as he saw Taiga sitting on the stage, no blood leaving his mouth anymore and no signs of actual pain visible on his face. He was still breathing heavily and his body was shaking, which made clear that he was indeed not fine, but at least alive, which was all Ueda needed to know for now.

Domoto suddenly started chuckling when he realized that Taiga had shot him and he turned his head towards the boy. “And here I wanted to be nice and help you and this is how grateful you are for it.”

“You were the one who told me to take the gun instead of the knife, right?” Taiga replied with a cold voice, the gun now a bit lower with his hands unable to lift it up for the whole time and his body still unable to move the way he wanted.

“Then let me give you another advice,” Domoto started before he looked at Ueda for a brief moment. Ueda stared back at Domoto with a questioning look before a lopsided smile appeared on the leader’s face. Ueda wanted to move, but he was too slow and Domoto was closer to Taiga than him and before he could even get up Domoto had jumped up regardless his leg injury and twisted the gun out of Taiga’s hand now pointing it at the boy’s forehead.

Taiga’s condition was still way too instable to make him react fast, so he could do nothing but look up at the leader when he moved the gun a bit more forward so that the cold metal met his skin.

“Next time, aim for the head, but unfortunately there won’t be a next time for you!”

***

“If you have nothing to say then I guess we have to solve this the old fashioned way,” Fuma said as he lunged out for another punch, but Kochi had fought often enough against him at the training back in the club to know most of his moves and he dodged as good as possible.

“Fuma, you didn’t even give him the chance to talk things through, you attacked right away,” Kento scolded him while keeping his distance. There was no way he would interfere in this fight. After all Kochi entered the club before him and since the moment Fuma had found out that he and Juri had betrayed them there was a dangerous silence around him each time that topic came up, so now the hidden storm was finally getting loose and it would definitely rip everything into pieces which was getting in his way.

“He didn’t talk to you before, right? So why would he talk to me?” Fuma shot back without even slowing down his attacks and finally he succeeded in finding and opening, but instead of a punch he just pushed Kochi away. But the force was enough to make the other one crush with his back into the wall with a gasp. There were still pieces of the mirror at the wall and a lot of them dangerously scattered over the ground, but this time it didn’t seem like Kochi would try to use them to defend himself. He seemed to have crawled back into his shell even more than before. Like he feared that showing any emotion at all could somehow make him crumble and that was exactly what Fuma was using to his advantage.

Sure Kochi was good in running away from conflicts and so it was no miracle that Kento wasn’t able before to talk to him properly, after all talking was what Kochi was best in and so he could always make sure to not lose when it was about words, but fighting was a different topic. Speaking with his fists was Fuma’s strong point and as long as no one would get in their way there would be a point where Kochi would need to give up and Fuma was willing to beat him up to a dangerous degree just to make him finally sit still and listen!

“Running away again?” Fuma yelled as Kochi tried to get on distance as Fuma dashed forward, but he wouldn’t get far, because Fuma grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back, shoving him to the ground. Kochi kicked up as Fuma wanted to trap him, but that move made Fuma’s look darken and he grabbed Kochi’s outstretched leg.

“Fuma, don’t you-” dare to do that, was what Kento shouted over to him, but he was too late, because Fuma had already started turning and Kochi couldn’t even react as Fuma crashed him with his back first into the wall.

Kento couldn’t really be angry at the unfair way Fuma was fighting, because why should he hold back in the first place? On the other hand it wouldn’t help anyone if Kochi blacked out now.

“Finally in the mood to tell me why you fucking asshole betrayed us?” Fuma growled as Kochi failed in getting up again and rolled on his stomach with a groan instead.

When there was still no reply Fuma stepped in front of the boy and lifted him up on the collar, slamming him in the wall once more, but keeping a hold on him this time. Fuma wasn’t even out of breath, but Kochi had already several cuts and bruises on his face through the first fight and some strands of hair were sticking to his sweaty forehead, while he tried to keep his breathing pace regular, but it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to be a worthy opponent for Fuma any longer.

“I want to hear the reason of your betrayal out of your mouth right here, right now!”

Instead of giving a direct answer Kochi just chuckled, which wasn’t a smart move, because Fuma lunged out right away, giving him a harsh punch in the face while keeping him in a standing position with his other hand still clenched in his collar. “Are you that afraid to answer?”

“The question is just too stupid to be answered,” Kochi finally spoke. “All of you know the story by now, why should I repeat it for you?”

Another dangerous growl was heard from Fuma on that when he put both hands back on the boy’s shirt and added so much force that it got hard for the other one to breath.

“Fucking arrogant smartass, aren’t you? It was part of the plan! You were sent by Avernus exactly for that reason, blah blah blah! Soldiers were sent to the war to fight and still some ran! Some even helped the enemy or tried to solve the problem without fighting! There are always other ways, so why did you choose the worst one?”

“Because I wanted to?”

It was the arrogant tone Kochi used which made Fuma slam him in the wall once more before he shoved him to the ground and sat on top of him, throwing a punch to his face. As expected Kochi didn’t show that much of a reaction, which made Fuma even more furious.

“Fuma, calm down,” Kento tried his luck again, but the boy kept punching Kochi and slowly the boy’s condition reached a dangerous degree.

“FUMA!” Kento raised his voice and finally Fuma let off the other one and looked up at his boyfriend while breathing hard, trying to get a grip on his rage. “Maybe we should just-”

“I am not leaving!” Fuma cut him harshly and looked down at Kochi again. “Why can’t you bastard just admit the truth? Why do you have to keep playing after their rules?”

Fuma’s voice had suddenly changed and a shiver ran through Kento’s body on the hurt tone of his voice.

“I told you that it was my choice,” Kochi explained once more, but he got interrupted when Fuma lifted him off the ground just to punch him once more. The force would have lifted the boy right off his feet again, but Fuma made sure that he wouldn’t fall.

Instead of attacking with a lot of strength Fuma started pushing the boy around and slowly it seemed to make Kochi angry and he tried to stop Fuma. Soon their fight ended up being more of a kids’ struggle and they pushed each other against the wall or to the ground, the other one pulling away a leg to making the other one fall as well. After a while Kochi let out a scream and kicked Fuma away.

“Can’t you just leave? If you don’t fight seriously then you don’t have to waste your time with me!”

“Now you can maybe understand why we are so annoyed of you,” Fuma replied, but Kochi just tilted his head in confusion.

“The one not fighting seriously here is you, not me! Do you really think doing everything on your own will make anyone happy?”

“I am not doing anything-”

“SCREW YOU KOCHI, FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP LYING!” Fuma finally freaked completely and pulled the boy closer on the collar once more, but this time Kochi struggled with all his might, trying to get away, but Fuma wouldn’t let him. “AS IF JURI WAS THE ONLY ONE PROTECTING US! NOT DOING ANYTHING? YOU KNEW THAT THEY KEPT TAIGA CAPTIVE!”

“That has nothing to do with it,” Kochi shouted back, now running out of patience as well.

“OF COURSE IT DOES, JURI TOLD KENTO!”

“I am not Juri!”

“BUT YOU ARE OUR FRIEND THE SAME WAY HE IS!”

Was it the choice of words or the sudden shaking voice of Fuma which made Kochi flinch? Kento couldn’t clearly tell, but he could see the facade slowly breaking.

“I am a traitor, you said it yourse-”

“DAMN YOUR STUPID SMARTASS TALK,” Fuma hissed while he tried desperately to make his voice get stable again, but it was shaking too much already. “JUST BECAUSE YOU BETRAYED US DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T WANT YOU BACK!”

Suddenly Kochi started shaking his head first slowly then faster and faster, as if those words had been something he had feared to hear.

“Don’t you dare run away again,” Fuma warned him when he wanted to pull back. “I mean what I just said! Asked Kentaro, Nikaido, even Ueda, yes even he would accept you back at the club.”

Finally Kochi was listening, but he tried to run away with all his might, but Fuma made sure he couldn’t.

“I can’t go back, I don’t want to-”

“Stop lying!” Fuma warned him harshly again and this time Kochi pulled his arms up, covering his ears with his hands on which Fuma tried to push them down. “KOCHI!”

“LEAVE ME ALONE,” Kochi shouted for the first time while he tried to twist away and sank to the ground as Fuma didn’t let him run. Instead of trying to force the boy to look at him Fuma just fell on his knees next to him and hugged him. Kochi’s body froze completely under that move while Kento formed a proud smile.

“Please Kochi, we want you back! We don’t want you to remain at such a place! Why can’t you trust us? You were there for us, now let us be here for you!”

“No, I-”

“Kochi, we are not stupid,” Kento interrupted him soothingly. When the boy looked up at him he could see tears glittering in his eyes, the same desperation Fuma was trying to hide, but the way he had pressed his face against Kochi’s shoulder showed that he had lost his own fight already. “Juri is easier convinced, because he doesn’t like to cause trouble. And even though you both went back here exactly to not cause us trouble it is more than clear that you both need a hand to pull you out of this! Juri took it already, why can’t you take ours?”

When Kochi slowly shook his head the first tear ran down his cheek and he couldn’t hide a low sob. “It’s not that easy…”

“Idiot, it wasn’t easy to fight against the Fire Foxes either and here we won!” Fuma whispered in an unsteady voice, still refusing to lift his head.

“Avernus is different. You don’t know what they are capable of, what they can do to those who betrayed them.”

“But you betrayed them already, didn’t you?”

Kento’s words made panic show up on Kochi’s face, but Kento gave him a soothing look.

“I mean come on if you hadn’t then Ueda would be definitely dead, right?”

It wasn’t even something Kochi had to answer to, because they could all tell the answer already.

“We can’t win,” Kochi said with another sob on which Fuma suddenly lifted his head and hit him on the back of the head on which the other one flinched and looked at him with wide eyes. Fuma had succeeded in not crying at least while facing him, but the look on his face showed how much he needed Kochi to finally snap out of it.

“Idiot, when our best strategist is with our enemies how are we supposed to win?”

Kochi blinked a few times in confusion before he looked up at Kento and the older one was the first one to crack a smile, followed by Kochi and slowly a low chuckle filled the room.

“Guess without me you are really a lost case,” Kochi let out in a low voice while he tried to get his sobs under control.

“Aren’t you a bright spark?”

“You are the last one I want to hear that from!” Kochi scolded Fuma on which he got another hit on the head. “Hey, if you don’t stop that I might just change sides again.”

While Kochi formed a teasing smile on his own words Fuma’s eyes grew wide on that.

“It was a joke,” Kochi added right away, fearing that Fuma might hit him for joking over such a topic, but without a warning Fuma tackled him down and hugged him so tight that he couldn’t breathe for a moment.

“Ow, Fuma what the hell?”

“Welcome back Kochi,” Fuma replied, once more his voice ready to break. That was when Kochi realized that his words had made clear that yes he was finally back with them and it had taken long enough. And especially courage. He was still not sure if it was a smart move to stand up against his own troop, after all he had seen and experienced enough inside Avernus to be actually able to laugh off an afterlife in hell as if it was a walk in a flower field. But on the other hand he couldn’t make sure that his friends would get out of this war without problems if he was chained down to the rules of his troop. He wouldn’t attack them and Juri wouldn’t either, just if necessary they would hurt them so that their cover wouldn’t get blown, that was how everything had been planned, but what use was it when their friends rushed into the fight themselves?

“Guys, I am super happy for you, but I’ve the feeling we should hurry,” Kento interrupted when it seemed like Fuma wouldn’t move as long as no one would force him.

“We should actually go and get Taiga out of here,” Kochi said on which Fuma finally sat up and helped his friend up as well.

“Is his condition that critical?”

“It’s not his condition I am worried about to be honest. He might be up to something stupid and maybe he didn’t come up with it on his own.”

The other two didn’t seem to understand, but at least they agreed on hurrying back. They had to make sure to all get back and the only way to freedom was overturn the three leaders of Avernus and with the main leader being right in front of them they should grab the chance.


	17. Chapter 17

It was when Watanabe shoved the third person in his way down the stairs that he let out a loud curse. “Damn it, how many people does Avernus have? This is ridiculous!”

“Let’s just be happy that for now we didn’t face any of the leaders or stronger members,” Yuma said while following the other one through the Exposers’ hideout.

“I wouldn’t mind if it meant we didn’t have to deal with all those-”

“What is it?” Yuma asked when Watanabe stopped abruptly and leant over the railing of the metal staircase they were on. “Hey, what are you-”

Without a warning Watanabe jumped over the railing and Yuma could just shake his head when Watanabe hissed as he hit the ground way too hard at his improvised landing two floors under him.

“Was that really necessary?” Yuma scolded him and hurried down the stairs instead, but Watanabe wasn’t waiting for him. “Where are you going?”

“I think I just saw Saku!” Watanabe yelled back at him and that made the other one sped up as well.

On the lower floor they had reached now, there weren’t so many people fighting anymore, but a group of Avernus members had just ran out through a door in the back and in their middle Watanabe was sure he had spotted Saku.

“Shit, where did they go,” Watanabe let out when they dashed into a storage like area, but there were stairs to different floors and it wasn’t clear where the people from before had vanished to.

“Let’s split up? Can you give me a description of him? Then I know who I am looking for,” Yuma asked and after Watanabe gave him a short description of Saku’s look he dashed up the stairs while Yuma went to the lower level of the building.

Soon Yuma heard voices and he tried to stay hidden while approaching the group which was heading through the room filled with pipes and big container boxes.

“Here take this,” one of them said, but Yuma was still too far away to make out who was talking to whom.

“I told you I won’t use it!”

“For how long will you keep being that stubborn? We are about to win this war, you really want us to kill you instead?”

Silence followed that statement and suddenly the group stopped, apparently because someone in their middle had stopped and when Yuma went a bit closer, hiding one container behind them he could see how someone turned towards a blonde boy which was standing in the middle of the group.

“So which one will it be?” The one in front of him asked while holding out a gun towards him.

“If you don’t trust me why would you even hand me a gun? I could just shoot you with it.”

“And then you would be dead as well,” one of the people next to him said.

“But one of your comrades would be as well.”

The one in front of him let out a chuckle on that. “It’s not like we are all friends here you know? Sacrifices must be made to reach our goal. This war works with the principal of the survival of the fittest.”

Yuma hadn’t met any of the leaders until now, but he could totally understand why Fuma and Kento had begged them so much to help. Those people were brainwashed to a degree which gave him the creeps. But he couldn’t get scared of them now, because watching the boy in the middle he was sure that he had found who they were looking for, Saku!

Now the question was what he was supposed to do? Running back and looking for Watanabe in this huge building was out of question, but there were like eight other people, so he wouldn’t be able to face them on his own.

“Fine, if you don’t want it, don’t take it. But I will gladly let you die the moment we face our enemies again,” the one in front said before he turned around, obviously about to keep moving.

Yuma looked around in panic, not knowing how to stop them when his look fell on a pipe which was running alongside the back of the containers and he dashed forward, trying to pass the group hidden behind the boxes and luckily they didn’t notice him.

When he had brought a few meters distance between them he stopped and pulled out a knife he had carried with him just in case, now it would come in extremely handy.

He ducked under the pipe, looking towards the way between two containers where the people would show up any second.

When the first one came in his view he lunged out with all his might and sank the knife in the pipe. The knife got ripped out of his hand through the force of the gas streaming free through the hole he had opened.

White steam was what hit the group without a warning and they all ducked, shouting and cursing. That was the moment when Yuma dashed forward. He kicked the person closest to him away, making him fall on two of his comrades and then he grabbed the Saku’s wrist.

Saku looked back at him with wide eyes, but he didn’t try to fight back when Yuma pulled him away from the group and behind the containers.

“MOVE!” Yuma shouted while dragging Saku after him. They were lucky that there were enough things in the room to block the others view and they got to the staircase before anyone could even realize where they had vanished to.

“What’s going on?” Saku finally dared to ask when Yuma dragged him up to the next staircase where Watanabe had vanished to before.

“I came with Wa-”

Without a warning he got tackled to the ground from the side as they had reached the upper floor and with a yelp he landed on his side, someone suddenly standing above him. The other one wanted to lunge out for a punch, but suddenly Saku dragged him away.

“Wait, he is not with Avernus, he just helped me!” Saku shouted at the other one who needed a moment to stop struggling and realize that Yuma wasn’t going to fight back.

“What? Who are you?”

“Same question here,” Yuma said as he carefully got up again.

“He is a friend of Watanabe, I think? I am sorry I don’t even know your name, I just saw you with Watanabe and Abe at the tournament at the hideout.” Saku said.

“Right, sorry. I’m Miyadate, I am, yeah...something like Watanabe’s friend,” Miyadate explained stumbling.

“I am Yuma, member of the Osaka fight club. So now we are done with the introductions, so maybe we should keep-”

“SAKU!”

This time Yuma just rolled his eyes, because how often were people interrupting him today?

The next one to land on the ground was Saku with Watanabe’s arms wrapped around the latter.

“Shota, I am also happy to see you, but I can’t breathe,” Saku complained, on which the latter sat up and flashed him an apologizing smile.

“I am so happy that you are fine!”

“Same here, but please tell me that Shohei didn’t come with you?”

“All good he is back at one of the fight clubs, he is safe,” Watanabe explained before he pulled the latter in another hug.

“Saku, I am so sorry that we needed so long to get to you!”

Saku grabbed the latter’s jacket on the back and squeezed him once before he pulled back to ruffle through his hair with a bright smile. “You are here now and that is all that is important.

“Oh, aren’t you cute?”

They all turned to the stairs immediately, finding the leader of the group from before looking at them. He pointed the gun at them and they all exchanged a few looks, not sure how to react. They needed a plan, a fast one, but the distance between them was too big to make a surprise attack work.

But a surprise attack was what came, but not from them. The Avernus member got suddenly dragged to the back with one arm pulling him back around his neck while someone else jumped forward and pulled the gun out of his hand.

“How rude of you to interrupt such a nice reunion,” the one behind him said before he dragged him around and kicked him down the stairs.

“No manners,” the other one said, playing with the gun in his hand while crouching down, looking down the stairs with an almost bored look, as if he had hoped for a stronger opponent and that even though both of them seemed quite beaten up already.

“No manners, they fit you perfectly then, I’d say,” Miyadate teased them on which Myuto and Fukka turned towards the group with a teasing expression.

“I wouldn’t say we have no manners, but maybe no pride?” Myuto said with a wink towards Miyadate who shook his head on that.

“I would say no dignity instead to be honest,” Yuma let out on which both gave him a death glare before they made a synchronized and threatening step forward.

“Someone wants to make himself more enemies today,” Fukka let out with a lopsided smile on which Yuma stepped a bit back and tried to hide behind Watanabe.

“Guys, come on we have enough enemies to fight,” Yuma complained, but Fukka and Myuto dashed forward already and with a squeal Yuma dashed forth and back between the other three. First they looked a bit worried, but when they realized the smiles the others carried while chasing after him they looked at them with an amused expression.

“Okay, okay! Sorry! I AM SORRY!” Yuma yelled when Fukka and Myuto got a grip on him.

“Do we let him off like this?” Fukka asked and Myuto let out a hum before he nodded.

“For today, yes.”

“Great, I will leave for Osaka as soon as this mess is over,” Yuma let out worried before the other boys hit him against the back of his head with a chuckle.

“Sorry to interrupt, but how are things outside?” Miyadate asked.

“We were with Kitayama earlier and made sure that no other Underground places were under attack. Shintaro and Sou went with Kitayama, Hikaru and Inoo to secure the area around the hideout and it seems like Kamenashi’s men stand quite a good chance in this fight. So if we lend them a hand we have good chances of winning,” Myuto explained.

“Then let’s go,” Saku said to all their surprise. “What? Do you really think I would sit back and let you do the work? I have enough asses to kick here, you are free to join!”

“I am so happy to have you back,” Watanabe said while shaking his head with a bright smile before he followed Saku through the building. Miyadate and Fukka also followed them, while Yuma kept looking at Myuto with a weird expression and he somehow knew already what the next question would be.

“The members you just talked about….is Daiki…?”

He didn’t want to voice it out so he just nodded on which Yuma bit his lip.

“Let’s keep fighting for him as well,” Myuto let out in a low voice and Yuma nodded before they rushed after the others. They had lost some battles, they had lost friends on the way as well, but the outcome of the whole war was what would decide the destiny of the Underground, so until the very end they would keep fighting!

***

“You just want to keep silent until this war is over?” Kentaro asked after several minutes had passed in which the younger one kept staring and remained on distance, but what else did Kentaro expect? So often had they left each other’s’ side until now and still they always ended up facing each other again, which made him believe that there were still things to say!

“What else do you want me to do? Are you actually going to fight me?” Aran replied while trying to keep a neutral expression, but no matter how perfect he would put that mask of ignorance on, Kentaro was the only one who could always shatter it to pieces and see beyond all those fake emotions.

“If fighting against you is what it needs to make you come back with me then yes I will fight you and I will win.”

“Make me come back?” Aran asked in disbelieve, but Kentaro wouldn’t get startled by the mocking look he received. “How many times did I tell you until now that it’s over? You got one traitor back, isn’t that enough?”

“Juri isn’t a traitor, nor is Kochi,” Kentaro shot back at him a bit snappier as he wanted. “And we are not discussing their problems here, but ours!”

“The only problem here is your stubbornness. Why do you even think I would want to go back to someone who left me behind in the first place? Don’t make it look like I am the one who ran away!”

“But you did,” Kentaro countered on which Aran’s look turned to annoyed.

“Are you seriously trying to start such a discussion now?”

“You prefer fighting with our fists instead?”

Yes he actually would, it was written all over his face. Aran didn’t like talking straight forward about all the emotional stuff and especially not about his own mistakes or bad decisions and this conversation was going exactly there, so he tried to somehow run away from the topic.

“Maybe you should better go back downstairs and see if you can help Taiga and the others.”

When Aran made a step to the side and obviously tried to just leave, Kentaro stepped in his way, with a dark expression on his face. “I warn you, don’t dare to try running away by making me feel guilty. You pulled that shit at our old gangs’ hideout, but I have enough of my friends with me this time to know that they can handle the situation on their own. It’s time that I take care of my own!”

Aran rolled his eyes with an annoyed growl on the older one’s behavior, but Kentaro still took a step forward and Aran tensed right away, but didn’t step back.

“You told me that all you wanted was one apology, right? I apologized, so I’d say now it’s your turn to do the same!”

A disbelieving chuckle was heard on that and Kentaro lifted an eyebrow at the latter while Aran made a step back and put his hands in his pockets. “An apology, for what? For betraying you? For using you? Why should I apologize for that? I told you it’s over, I have no reason to feel sorry for anything I did.”

It wasn’t like Kentaro had run out of patience out of a sudden. It had be more like the last drop which had been missing to make him explode. He could tell that Aran knew perfectly what he was talking about, but pretending to be nothing more but the regular bad guy of a story was something Kentaro couldn’t accept anymore. Not after everything that had happened since Aran had suddenly reappeared in his life. Not everything that had happened since that day had been fake and there were some moments, some conversations which he couldn’t get out of his head and while his unfaithful night was definitely nothing he wanted to get remembered of there was something that he had thought about over and over again, and he finally wanted to see if Aran had meant what he had said before.

It took Aran by full surprise when Kentaro dashed forward and because he had stood with his hands still in his pockets he couldn’t stop the other one as he jumped on him and made him stumble to the back, so that he was sitting on top of him.

He lunged out for a punch and Aran just closed his eyes, but when there was no impact he slowly dared to open them again, seeing how Kentaro had stopped his attack and lowered his shaking fist.

“I can give you the chance and join us instead.”

Aran just looked up at the latter with a confused look as he couldn’t make sense out of what he had just said.

“Those were your words when we found out that you betrayed us,” Kentaro explained on which Aran looked away out of a sudden. “Why trying to make me join when you want me out of your life that badly?”

“What else should I have said at that moment? I needed to make you let us leave.”

“Stop your stupid excuses, you know I won’t buy any of them,” Kentaro warned him and lifted his hand to clench it in the latter’s collar. The younger one didn’t struggle when he got lifted up a bit on the collar and that defensive attitude was making it clear that Aran was trying to hide behind his mask. If he would go into the offensive now he could lose his calm and that was exactly what Kentaro wanted to happen. “Fine, then how about this one: When Hagiya tried to kill me you made him stop! Oh and one more: You threw yourself in front of me to rescue me from an explosion. So what stupid lie do you have prepared for this? You wanted to keep a worthy enemy alive? Or wait even better, you did it by mistake?”

There was still no attempt of the other one to make him stop, but the accusations made him crawl back into his shell more and more on which Kentaro clenched both hands in his collar this time. “Look at me!”

First Aran didn’t look up at him, but when Kentaro shook him so harshly that his head hit the ground once he hissed and shot the other one an angry glare. “Way better than running away. Go ahead if you want to start a fight here is your chance!”

But once more Aran stayed silent and didn’t try to attack the other one, but he kept looking at him at least.

“When I told the other fight club members about what happened between us the night before when you...attacked me,” for a moment Kentaro halted and this time it was him who looked away. This was also a topic he didn’t like to bring up again and even Aran’s look softened a moment on the mention of his stupid move. “I remember your look when Hagiya put his hand on your shoulder. That was no comfort it was a warning and your look gave it all away. That was actually when I finally understood that you weren’t the friends you pretended to be.”

He was right with every word he said and there was nothing Aran could deny, but that wasn’t what Kentaro wanted from him. Admitting or denying all those facts wasn’t important for him.

“There is one more thing about that night I remember clearly. Words I will never forget and no matter how much you want to deny them now I know that they were true. When you-”

“Enough of your stupid emotional talk,” Aran said in a strict voice and his body tensed out of a sudden as he grabbed Kentaro by the wrists. “Why are you trying to delay everything here? I have other people I could fight while you could just try and get your stupid friends out of here!”

“Here we go again, why would you want me to leave with them? You are one of Domoto’s weapons, right? Then you have to eliminate me so that I won’t take away his precious toy!”

“Can’t you just once do as I tell you?” Aran let out a bit louder this time, finally losing his patience.

“You know what, I have enough,” Kentaro yelled at him and suddenly pulled him up. When he tried to drag Aran after him towards the stairs the latter finally struggled and tried to stop him.

“What are you up to?”

“You don’t want to fight me, right? Fine! Then I will make sure that we go back to Domoto so that you have no other chance, but to get back in your oh so perfect soldier role and then we can maybe finally get over with this.”

Kentaro, stop!” Aran shouted at him as he wanted to keep moving and this time Aran finally used his real strength to stop the boy and he pulled him back on his arm, but that move just resulted in Kentaro pushing him away. “If we go down there now I might have to kill you, are you even realizing that?”

“So what?” Was all Kentaro had to say to that.

“For god’s sake, why is it so hard for you to understand that there is not just black and white in this world? Just because I want you out of my life, doesn’t mean I want you dead!”

“Then tell me why you want me out of your life!”

“I told-”

“One more lie and I am going to freak, I warn you!” Kentaro growled and it was clear that Aran was completely aware of what he wanted to hear, but it was something he couldn’t admit or the mask he had built up over all this time would finally shatter and that seemed to be something he didn’t want to let happen and as much as it hurt, Kentaro knew it was his fault.

Aran closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he suddenly went into a defense stance to Kentaro’s obvious surprise. With a concentrated look he faced the older one. “Guess you will get your fight after all.”

Kentaro formed a lopsided smile on that and pushed up his sleeves to his elbows. “Fine, but I hope you realize that if I win there is no going back for you. I won’t let you go again!”

Aran’s reply came with his first attack and Kentaro would give everything it took to win this fight to make Aran come back with him, even if it would never be as before.


	18. Chapter 18

Ueda didn’t even dare to breathe since Domoto had lifted the gun at Taiga, but while he was freaking out inside for not having been fast enough to stop Domoto it seemed like Taiga wasn’t frightened at all. It was a look he hadn’t seen until now, but there were so many things he didn’t know about since Taiga had been kidnapped, so he could just hope that there was a good reason for the weird confidence on the boy’s face.

“So when you kill me instead of me killing myself you think this doesn’t count as losing the game?” Taiga asked in a calm voice on which Domoto moved the finger closer to the trigger with an annoyed look.

“You really think you can beat me in my own game?”

“If I don’t try we won’t find out, right?”

A lopsided smile replaced the threatening look on Domoto’s face, but the tension in the air was still not resolving and one wrong step could make his insane side take over, which would result in Taiga losing his life no matter if Domoto was going to lose his own game or not.

Domoto was facing him with his back, but he had the gun still right in front of Taiga’s face, so there was no way for Ueda to interfere without risking too much.

“So and what’s your plan? How do you want to win this game now? Seems like Reo’s antidote robbed you of your best chance of winning.”

On his words Reo suddenly appeared on stage and looked from Domoto to Taiga in confusion.

“Good timing, seems like your antidote worked, good work.” Domoto said proudly on which Reo bowed slightly before he moved over to them. “Check his condition.”

Reo did as he was told and took a side glance at Ueda, but the latter was still observing them, waiting for any good chance to get the gun.

“He seems fine, maybe it will take some time until he will be back to full strength, but his life is not in danger anymore,” Reo explained after taking a closer look at the boy and Domoto gave Taiga a triumphing smile.

“What a shame, right?”

He snapped his fingers on which Reo stood up and stepped next to him. Domoto pulled him closer and handed him the gun, making sure that it would still be pointed at Taiga.

“This time I will make sure that your punishment will leave more than just a few scars,” Domoto said as he put all his weight on his unhurt leg and even though it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to fight properly anymore he still turned towards Ueda who automatically made a step back. Sure now he would win a fight against the leader, but there was no way he would keep fighting just with his bare fists. When the leader formed a creepy smile a shiver ran down Ueda’s back. Something had suddenly changed in his attitude and Ueda could tell that it was definitely a dangerous change. “I think I just found the perfect punishment for you,” he said while turning back to Taiga. The boy looked a bit confused until Domoto looked at Reo. “Make sure that you don’t lower the gun.”

Reo just nodded while Domoto looked at the remaining gun which was still on stage. When he made a few stumbling steps towards it Taiga realized what he was up to.

“No, I won’t let you hurt him!” Taiga complained right away and tried to jump up, but Reo suddenly lunged out with the gun and hit him against the side of the head so that he fell to the side.

“TAIGA!” Ueda shouted worried, but Reo pointed the gun back at Taiga right away which stopped Ueda from moving.

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t hurt him,” Domoto said in a carefree voice when he stopped in front of the gun and gave Taiga another dangerous smile before he crouched down to pick it up. “One shot in the head won’t hurt. But it will be the ultimate lesson for you, don’t you think-”

The moment he wanted to touch the gun he heard a clicking sound behind him, the sound of a hammer pulled back and it was closer than he thought it would be, so he turned his head finding Reo standing right behind him, the gun pointed at the his head.

“There won’t be any punishment today. And the only lesson will be yours,” Reo hissed at him, eyes dark and empty.

“What a surprise,” Domoto said as relaxed as always as he carefully lifted his arms and turned around to the boy, standing up again.

Reo’s hands weren’t shaking and there was no sign of bluffing on his face. Ueda had held his breath the moment the boy had suddenly turned away from Taiga and had approached the leader instead. He had no clue what was going on, but he could just hope that it wasn’t some type of trap.

“And here I thought my warning yesterday was clear?”

“It was,” Reo confirmed in an emotionless voice. “That’s why I decided that it was time to rob you of the chance to threaten me ever again. I won’t let you play with any of us any longer.”

Domoto took a look over the boy’s shoulder at Taiga and the boy had the same determination shining in his eyes as Reo.

“Oh, so you teamed up against me?”

“Did you really think I would kill myself after all the shit I survived already?” Taiga asked him mockingly and somehow that made a huge stone fall from Ueda’s chest, because just knowing the fact that Taiga had planned this scenario was making him feel relieved to such an extent that all he wanted at the moment was pulling Taiga into a hug and finally bring him back home, away from all the cruelty and danger.

Taiga pulled out a small bottle from his pocket, which was empty. “I had the antidote with me the whole time. Reo made it for me yesterday.”

“So you just wanted to cause uproar,” Domoto concluded. “So when there was an opening you would just get rid of me. I've to admit that I was a bit careless. I didn't even realize that Reo had left his gun next to you. So now I wonder why you shot me in the leg when you had planned this so well?”

“Because I will be the one to end your tyranny,” Reo growled at him while lifting his other hand to the gun as well.

“Oh what would he say to that?” Even without voicing out a name Reo seemed to know who he was talking about and after the talk Reo had with Taiga the night before, Taiga also knew about everything. “Didn’t he tell you that he didn’t want you to kill for revenge?”

“He told me not to kill anyone in the first place, but I’ve disappointed him a lot of times already through breaking this promise, but this time it will be different.”

“Oh, really? Why is that?”

“Because he was talking about humans, but you are a demon!”

A weird laughter followed from Domoto on that statement and he faced Reo with an almost disappointed expression. “After all these years you see me as nothing more, but a mere demon?” Domoto asked and made a threatening step forward regardless the gun in front of his face and to everyone’s surprise Reo stepped back. He had the gun, the upper hand, but still it seemed like Domoto could still influence him with just his words. “I am not a demon. I am ruling over them, I am their king, the devil himself!”

Taiga tried hard not to interfere, but he knew that the more Reo let Domoto speak the more he would get actually influenced by it, but talking to him now could also take his focus away from Domoto and that could be a fatal move.

Another step to the front, resulting in one more step back for Reo. Now his hands didn’t seem that steady anymore and he let out a long unsteady breath, obviously trying hard to fight his insecure self.

“I am ruling over all those evil creatures, which move on my command. Demons, just like you!”

How was Domoto always able to twist everything around? But it had definitely the effect he wished for, because Reo slowly shook his head, but the damage was already done.

“I am not like you.”

“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you shoot until now?”

A fair question which Ueda and Taiga wanted an answer to as well, but while Ueda had no clue about what was going on at all, Taiga could at least understand partly why Reo was hesitating. It was his step into freedom, but also a step into a black hole. Was there a place for Reo outside Avernus? Would it be worth betraying his troop to start a new life which he didn’t even know existed? That were definitely just a few of the questions giving Reo a headache at the moment and Domoto’s words wouldn’t make it any easier.

With a fast movement Domoto grabbed the front of the gun and Reo flinched, but kept a hold on it. The leader moved his forehead against it with a challenging smile. “Admit it, you can’t kill me! After all those years I made you kill for me, I am the one person you can’t kill!”

Reo’s insecurity got the upper hand more and more, but he still kept his focus on the gun and his finger was still close to the trigger, all he had to do was shoot.

“Do it!” Domoto challenged him, his expression slowly turning into the usual insane one. “Come on, shoot!” He almost yelled at the other one and pulled on the gun on which Reo almost let go of it, his expression a mask of fear and insecurity.

It was that moment when the door behind the last rows of the theater opened with a squeak that everything happened in an instant. Ueda had looked over to the door right away, finding Juri in the doorframe, obviously shocked about his mistake of not being more careful while entering. After all he should have known the best that this old building was always making noises everywhere. Nikaido was behind him, but before any of them could react there was finally the gun shot they had waited for. But when Ueda saw how Taiga suddenly jumped up and forced his body to dash forward he realized that it hadn’t gone as planned.

Reo had been distracted for just a brief moment and he had actually shot, because he realized his mistake, but Domoto had also reacted immediately and had tried to move to the side and pull the gun out of the boy’s hand. With one he had succeeded, with the other one not and Reo fell back as the gun was ripped out of his hand. He stared up with wide eyes at Domoto whose head was bleeding so much that it was a miracle to everyone that he was even still alive. The bullet had actually hit him in the head and even though it had been just at the side it had actually went in, leaving half of his face stained in blood.

The pain had made him stumble backwards for a moment, but he still seemed aware of his surroundings or at least aware of Reo sitting on the ground in front of him with an expression like a child which had truly just faced the devil himself!

“A DEMON YOU ARE, INDEED! A CREATURE OF MISTRUST AND BETRAYAL!” Domoto shouted at the boy while lifting the gun. Blood was leaving his mouth and ears, while he kept laughing almost hysterically. “LET’S JOIN AGAIN IN HELL!”

And then another shot and the room fell completely silent!

“With standing up against you he is free from all his sins, he won’t join you in hell,” Taiga was heard before Domoto crumbled to the ground. “So even the devil can die.”

Reo was obviously about to say something as he realized what had happened, but there were no words at all which could actually describe how thankful he was. While Domoto had concentrated on him, Taiga had dashed passed them and got the gun which Domoto wanted to lift up before. His hands had been completely steady when he had lifted it up and shot! One shot, which finally had ended the war of the Underground and had freed Reo from the chains of his past.

Nikaido and Juri hurried towards the stage, but Ueda wasn’t moving at all. As much as he wanted to walk up to Taiga, to take that gun out of his hand and to finally bring him out of this place he waited a bit longer. He had somehow made it this far, so now he could wait a few more minutes and that was all it would obviously take for Taiga and Reo to close their own chapter of the last months.

Nikaido stopped next to Ueda and Juri gave them a questioning look, but Nikaido shook his head and signaled him to wait. When Taiga let the gun drop to the ground they all turned to face the two boys again.

Slowly Taiga sank to his knees in front of Reo, painfully getting reminded of his leg injury from the night before. Reo’s eyes were fixed on Domoto as if he could still not believe that it was over. It didn’t surprise Taiga when Reo didn’t calm down, but seemed to slowly freak out, but when he tried to curl up and shut himself away from reality Taiga pulled him in his embrace and even though Reo struggled and Taiga’s body complained a lot about having to move while still feeling way too weak, he didn’t allow Reo to get away.

“Reo, it’s okay. It’s over!”

“You shouldn’t have done this….” Reo whispered, his voice breaking after the first word already and while he tried to get away on one hand he also clenched his hands in Taiga’s shirt, keeping him close so that he could hide his face at his chest.

“I did what you couldn’t. I did it for you. It’s okay like this!”

“Because I was too weak to break free you had to load such a burden on you.”

“What burden? Didn’t you say it yourself? he was a demon, calling himself the devil. Why should killing someone that evil be something bad?”

Sure his words were true, but of course Reo knew Taiga well enough by now to understand that this would haunt Taiga for some time no matter how evil Domoto was. He had killed him! The first time in his life he had killed someone. But knowing that it was for the sake of someone else he felt like he could overcome this eventually, after all he wasn’t alone anymore. That thought made him rest his chin on Reo’s hair and he looked up at Ueda. He hadn’t even realized that Juri and Nikaido had shown up, but his eyes were fixed on his protector.

“Don’t worry. We are not alone. Whatever we have to face from now on we will have people around to help us out.”

The words were for Reo, but also for Ueda and the older one needed to collect all his strength to just nod with a relieved smile and not storm towards Taiga and pull him in his embrace.

“We should bring Taiga back to the club,” Nikaido finally dared to interfere as the situation had calmed down a bit and Ueda nodded in agreement. Slowly, almost carefully he approached the two boys and Taiga clapped Reo on the back before he dared to let go of him. The boy hurried to hide his face on his sleeve for a moment before he dared to look up again.

Ueda stopped next to Taiga and stretched out his hand on which Taiga flashed him a brief smile before he took his hand and let himself get dragged up. It took no one by surprise when Ueda used more force than needed to pull him up and pulled him against his chest. Protectively he closed his arms around the boy’s shoulders, burying his face in his hair, while Taiga put his arms carefully around the older ones back. So warm, so familiar, so safe!

“Sorry for making you wait so long,” Ueda let out in a low voice on which Taiga shook his head right away.

“I would have waited forever if it was necessary.”

“Good that it wasn’t!! Ueda let out before he stepped a bit back and made Taiga move one arm around his shoulder before he lifted him up. “And now it’s time to finally go home!”

“Or more like getting brought home, what a service.”

“Good to see that you are already back in teasing mood,” Nikaido interfered with an amused expression when Ueda walked up to him.

“I am so sorry for dragging you all in this mess,” Taiga apologized.

“Oh trust me there are so many other people we can blame for this whole mess.”

“Yeah, like me…” Juri let out kind of defeated while shifting nervously next to them.

“Tatsuya, could you move a bit to the front?” Taiga asked suddenly on which Ueda did how he was told and stopped right in front of Juri. With the next move Taiga lunged out and hit Juri on the head. The boy yelped and stepped back with a shocked, yet guilty expression.

“Trust me as soon as I am back to full strength I will beat you up for real. Don’t think you get away this easily! I bet Kentaro convinced you to come back, right?”

That wasn’t actually a question, because who else was as convincing as him? But on the other hand Taiga wasn’t as forgiving as Kentaro and Juri knew that.

“By the way,” Taiga started and Juri already showed a guilty expression. “Welcome back!”

Juri kept staring at the boy with a confused expression until he finally formed a relieved smile. “Good to be back!”

“Okay, let’s go. We have to get the others as well. And if we don’t hurry Fuma will skin Kochi alive!”

“Fuma?” Ueda and Taiga said simultaneous.

“Long story,” Juri said waving his hand before passing them. “Let’s go for now. All of us!”

It took Reo a moment to realize that Juri had stopped next to him. He was still kind of lost in his thoughts and he looked at the fight club members with a disbelieving expression.

“I can’t come with you,” Reo let out while slowly getting up and wanting to take a step back, but Juri grabbed him by the wrist.

“We are not starting any discussion now! If you refuse I’ll make Nikaido take you back to our club.”

“Oh? Since when am I taking orders from you?” Nikaido let out with a played threatening expression on which Juri formed a lopsided smile.

“You would drag him out here even without anyone asking for it. All of us would.”

“But why?” Reo asked as he realized that they all agreed on that. “I did so many bad things. I was the one to kidnap Taiga, I hurt Shintaro, I...hurt Taiga...a lot.”

“And still here we are both still alive and that is also thanks to you!” Taiga reminded him.

“Great, so that problem is solved as well, let’s go,” Juri said as he turned around and dragged Reo after him. The boy stopped abruptly, trying to make Juri let go, but then Taiga let out an annoyed growl on which the younger one looked at him.

“Do I seriously have to get down again having another fight with you and that in my condition? Can we keep this drama for later please? If you want to leave our club later that is totally fine with me, but please do me the favor and come with us for now. I won’t let you stay here no matter what you say!”

Reo still didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t try to get away this time when Juri pulled on his wrist once more. It wasn’t like he wanted to remain at this place. There was nothing left for him anyway, not that there had been anything in the first place. All the memories of this place, the good and the bad once would move on with him no matter where he went, but at least he could try and find a new path which could at least make the cruel memories fade away bit by bit? If he didn’t try he won’t know if there was a place in this world now that he was free.

***

What was going on at the rooftop of the Avernus hideout couldn’t be called a fight. At least not if compared to all the fights which were going on in this Underground war. There was a lot of yelling and cursing, most of it coming from Kentaro while Aran tried to get away.

“I swear this stubborn behavior of you is something I will hate forever!” Kentaro yelled at him when Aran blocked one of his punches and tried to push Kentaro away to turn away and run. Before he got the chance though, Kentaro had stretched out his other arm and pulled Aran back on his hair on which the latter let out a yelp and fell to the ground together with the older one.

“Great, then finally leave me alone when you have finally learned to hate me!” Aran shouted back while he tried to get out of the other one’s grip. Kentaro had fallen on his back with Aran on top of him, but he wouldn’t let him get away and he closed his arms around his upper body, stopping him from getting up. “Damn it, Kentaro. What the hell do you want from me?”

Instead of an answer Kentaro turned around and forced Aran to the ground and when the boy turned on his back Kentaro pinned his wrists to the floor. “The truth, Aran! Just the fucking truth!”

All Kentaro needed now was time, because the fact that Aran wouldn’t even use his special technique was proof enough that he had finally broken through that annoying mask. Now all he had to do was rip it off completely and prevent it from ever forming again.

“I told you everyth-”

The punch that followed was the first real attack from Kentaro and Aran fell immediately silent. “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR STUPID EXCUSES ANYMORE!”

Instead of lunging out again Kentaro shook Aran on his collar, the younger one trying to make him let go, but suddenly he seemed vulnerable. Was it the desperation in Kentaro’s words which had made him break slowly? The hurt?

“WHY DO YOU KEEP PROTECTING ME WHEN YOU WANT ME OUT OF YOUR LIFE SO BADLY? WHY DID YOU BOTHER GETTING CLOSE TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN YOU HAD PLANNED TO BETRAY ME EVENTUALLY?”

When Aran wanted to reply with a way too calm expression Kentaro shook him once more, knowing that he would just come up with another lie. This time Aran tried to struggle more and get away, resulting with both of them starting another struggle without actual punches. At some point Kentaro ripped a part of Aran’s shirt to keep him down, while Aran kept such a strong hold on the latter’s hair that tears formed in Kentaro’s eyes, but they were mixed with the tears of rage he had kept in for so long. Disappointment and hurt!

“JUST LEAVE THIS PLACE!” Aran finally shouted back, but of course Kentaro wouldn’t listen.

“ANSWER ME!” Kentaro yelled back, ignoring the boy completely.

“LEAVE!”

This time Kentaro slapped Aran in a last attempt of making him finally snap out of it and get back to his straight forward and open attitude he had hated at first and had learned to love in the end. “ARAN, THE TRUTH!”

Now there were tears in Aran’s eyes as well and he wanted to look away, to just keep silent, but Kentaro wouldn’t let him. The moment he shook him once more his tears were finally running free and his voice was breaking when he called out for him again. “ARAN!”

“BECAUSE I AM STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU THE SAME WAY AS AFTER OUR FIRST KISS!” Aran shouted back with an unsteady voice, some sobs finding their way in between the words while he tried to calm down, but his breathing pace got more and more unsteady. “THAT’S WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR, RIGHT? YES I MEANT WHAT I SAID BEFORE! WHY I PROTECT YOU? WHY I DON’T KILL YOU? BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE YOU STUPID IDIOT MORE THAN ANYONE IN MY LIFE AND NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

There was no surprise written on Kentaro’s face, after all he had known the answer the whole time, but of course Aran would just pretend that he had said stupid things while he had been drunk before. But being honest about his feelings was always hard for the younger one, but when he confessed something then Kentaro could tell right away if it was true or not.

Their struggle had stopped completely after Aran’s outburst and the boy’s sobs were everything that was heard while his tears were running down his cheeks. He wanted to make them stop, but Kentaro wouldn’t let him move away. But he also didn’t want to fight again, so when he moved again he let his forehead drop against the younger ones on which Aran let out a shuddering breath.

“Then why didn’t you reach out for my hand when I tried to pull you out?”

“Pull me out to where?”

It shocked Kentaro that he had no direct reply to that and he tried hard finding a logical reply so that Aran would snap out of it, but then there was a bitter chuckle from the boy.

“Come on, Kentaro. We both know that there is no place for me next to you anymore.”

“Idiot, there are so many better places in this world than here!”

Aran shook his head on that with a bitter smile. “Not for me. No matter where, nothing is the same as being right next to you!”

“But instead of making yourself the Underground’s enemy you could have just left everything behind!”

“Like you?”

This time Kentaro froze on the boy’s words before he shook his head, but he couldn’t voice out anything in return, because it was the truth! On shaking legs Kentaro got off the boy and took a few steps back, allowing Aran to finally stand up as well.

“You know, I am actually jealous of you,” Aran said honestly on which Kentaro gave him a questioning look. “You were able to forget the past, to forget me! You went on and found happiness. I couldn’t get out of that empty black hole back then and distraction was all I needed and this was the best place I found for it!”

“This is my entire fault….” Kentaro whispered, ready to burst out in tears once more. He wanted to punch himself in the face, to make himself pay for his stupidity. Why hadn’t he seen that Aran wouldn’t be able to move on without him? How had it been possible that their love for each other was so uneven? “Aran...I am-”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Aran said with a smile. Now he wasn’t lying, he wasn’t running away. He had finally found the strength to tell Kentaro the truth and that even though he knew that it would hurt Kentaro and exactly out of that reason he had hidden the truth for the whole time. “As I said, I am happy for you, I truly am! But I can’t follow on the path you’ve chosen.”

“No, please Aran…” Kentaro made a step forward with a desperate expression. He stretched out his hand, it was shaking like the rest of his body and he could feel how his tears were getting ready to flow over again. “Please, get out from here together with me! Even if you don’t want to come with me, I can’t live on like this, knowing that you are in such a dark place.”

“You’ve lived on without knowing where I was in the first place.”

That was another unpleasant sting right in his chest, but Aran didn’t say it in an offended way. He actually made a step forward as well, looking down at Kentaro’s hand with an almost nostalgic smile. “But I guess now that I can be sure that you are finally strong enough to watch out for yourself and that you have someone next to you who will watch out for you no matter what, I can maybe do you the one favor and vanish into a safer surrounding.”

“Not maybe,” Kentaro said scolding, but he kept his voice low, afraid of Aran actually pulling back that offer and remaining at Avernus no matter if they won or not.

A small chuckle was heard from Aran on that before he nodded with a brief smile, which showed something like relief. Forcing Kentaro to let go of their past without explaining things hadn’t worked and finally Kentaro had been able to make him realize that no matter what would happen and no matter how different the love was they felt for each other, he would also treasure Aran forever, so he wouldn’t leave him behind.

“Fine, I will leave this place for sure. For you I will-”

It was the confusion, then the realization and then the shock. Why had there been a shot? There had been no one on the rooftop before. But when Kentaro looked over Aran’s shoulder he saw the boy standing in the doorframe, with the gun raised, the trigger still pulled back.

“I told you I’d be the one to kill you if you betray us,” Hagiya let out with a triumphing smile, almost the same entertained look on his face as Domoto.

As if his body couldn’t move faster Kentaro slowly focused back on Aran, even his eyes seeming to need time to find the right focus to see the boy clearly. The younger one stared back at him with wide eyes, his body frozen to the spot while Kentaro’s feet finally obeyed and made a shaking step forward.

“Aran…” He let out before stretching out his arms, like in slow motion they reached out for him and then the younger one fell to the front. “ARAN!”

At the last moment he caught the boy and together they sank to their knees. With a worried glance Kentaro looked up at the door once more, but Hagiya had vanished.

A cough made him focus back on Aran and he put his hands on his back, but when the boy jolted at that move he removed his hands right away, looking at them in shock when they were stained with blood.

“No….please, no...Aran, talk to me, come on!” Kentaro lifted the boy’s head up, not caring for the blood he was smearing over the boy’s skin with that move. “Hey, come on, stay with me!”

“Yes, I am actually staying with you,” Aran let out in a weak voice and Kentaro wondered if the pain was making it hard for him to stay clear or if he just didn’t get his words. Another cough made Aran bend to the front and Kentaro helped him lying down while he moved one hand once more to his back, to somehow stop the bleeding, even though he had nothing to actually treat it.

“Yes you are staying with me, you idiot!”

“But not for long…”

“What are you- No Aran, I will get you out of here no matter what!”

With a panicked look Kentaro scanned the rooftop, but of  course no one was there and he also couldn’t be sure if he found the right people if he dashed inside the building now or if Hagiya would be the first one to cross his way.

“Kentaro, it’s okay….” Aran let out in a voice which got weaker and weaker with every low breath he took, but somehow Kentaro couldn’t see any fear in the boy’s eyes. No disappointment or anger, there was just his typical confident smile, like he had everything under control as always.

“Nothing is okay, you asshole! You promised me to leave this place!”

“And now I will and the best part: I will do it with you at my side. There is nothing I could have wished for more!”

“Please Aran…” Kentaro tried again, but he could feel how his hand couldn’t even stop the bleeding a little bit and the hand which he had still on the boy’s face was turning colder while Aran’s skin got paler with every passing minute.

With which seemed to be a great effort Aran lifted one hand to Kentaro’s face and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear. The look he gave him was the request for a last favor and how would Kentaro be able to refuse? With all his might he stopped his tears from falling and his lips from shaking when he leant down and brushed his lips carefully over Aran’s. The younger one formed a brief smile on his careful movements before he dared to deepen the kiss, but just to an extend where he could keep it soft and passionate.

“I love you…” Aran whispered against his lips while keeping him close. Instead of an answer a sob escaped the boy and his tears ran free again, dropping on Aran’s cheeks.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Kentaro let out between his sobs on which Aran put his hand more on his face, brushing it slightly up into his hair so that he could look up at him. Aran’s eyes were always able to speak more emotions than his words would ever do and Kentaro felt blessed to have met someone like him in his life and while he would never forgive himself for not being able to treasure him more, he would also feel grateful forever. They had shown love and hate for each other, disappointed and treasured each other and in the end they would leave to different directions without any lies and secrets remaining.

“You’ve forgotten me once, now all you have to do is to do it again!” Aran whispered in an almost inaudible voice before Kentaro grabbed the boy’s hand on his face and moved it away to lean forward and put his lips to the boy’s forehead and gave him a short kiss. “I will never forget you!”

When he pulled back again Aran’s eyes were closed and the hand resting in his wasn’t replying to the pressure he was adding to it. The smile Kentaro formed was almost invisible and it got replaced by sobs immediately.

When he heard footsteps again he didn’t even bother getting scared or ready to attack. In his condition he wouldn’t be able to fight anyways. When it was Nikaido though who appeared in the doorframe this time Kentaro finally crumbled completely. It was the fact that he felt safe with Nikaido at his side that he could finally let go and while his protector could just stare at Aran with a shocked expression Kentaro pulled Aran up in his embrace. His sobs grew louder until they ended up being screams. No he didn’t feel weak, he felt proud! Proud of being able to mourn for Aran, to have been able to send him off, for staying by his side!

Never would he forget their story and never again would he make the mistake and run away from anything! No matter if his past hurt or not, it was part of his life and while his memories of Aran would remain the darkest and most painful, they would also remain the most precious ones! No he wouldn’t forget. He would just let go!


	19. Chapter 19

The war was over, they had won! The Underground troops together with the fight clubs had defeated Avernus, a mission which they had all thought of impossible.

Ryosuke, Keito, Massu, Daiki…

Their battle had been long and merciless, leaving them all with some pieces missing. A lot of them would need some time to finally be able to move on and accept their losses. For them as well they have given everything to make Avernus fall!

Domoto, Yamashita, Takizawa, Yara, Sakurai, Ren, Aran…

More names on their side! But still not all on both sides! There were more losses than just their closest friends and there were also not just enemies which have fallen on Avernus’ side.

Kitayama and Kamenashi would need some time to secure the area with their remaining members and make sure that none of the remaining Avernus members would form another rebellion. Luckily the members of the Osaka fight club and the clubs around Tokyo which Shintaro and Sou had brought with them also agreed on helping.

The fighters of the North Tokyo fight club though had returned to treat the wounded and while Kento, Abe and Miyata were treating as many people as possible in the training room their own fight club members had been brought to the med room.

It had been some complicated hours after everyone had returned. Watanabe almost jumped at Reo when he suddenly appeared in front of him, but luckily Sakuma had been calm enough to convince him to just leave him alone for now and the four boys from Sendai had vanished into Watanabe’s room since then.

Fuma had almost forced Juri and Kochi to help Kento and the others with treating the other members. A lot of them were extremely skeptical with them coming back, so since they’ve been back they were apologizing more than actually treating wounds, but that was exactly what Fuma wanted them to do. If they wanted to be accepted again they had to build up their trust from zero once more.

Tegoshi had been a quite difficult case since Ryo had found him and he refused to let him stay with his fight club members, because they had enough other things to take care of so he had made Tegoshi stay with him instead and help patrolling around the area.

In the end it had been the typical people ending up in the med room. Taiga, Kentaro, Nikaido and Ueda. Kochi and the others had been treated as well, but after Fuma had kicked them out after the last bandage was set, the four members had been left alone with the only none member allowed to stay in the med room, Reo. Taiga had refused to leave him out of sight, afraid that anyone would attack him and they had all agreed on letting him stay with them instead. Nikaido was fine, but Kentaro wasn’t, so as always he stayed with him. Sure, Kentaro didn’t have any bad injuries, but the wounds inside were hurting more than any physical injury could ever do. It had been already early morning of the next day when they had all returned, but still Miyata had forced Kentaro to take some medicine to put him to sleep, because he had kept breaking down over and over again. Nikaido had to forcefully bring him back to the club and even though he had promised him to give Aran a proper farewell later Kentaro hadn’t been able to keep up with reality. Now he was sleeping on one of the beds with Nikaido asleep on the chair next to him.

Reo had actually also been given something to sleep, but he had accepted the medicine right away, without any complains to Taiga’s obvious relief. The boy needed to rest as well and like this Taiga could also calm down a bit more, not that he was actually calm enough to sleep. It was the other way around, but no one would see.

“Are you still awake?”

Okay, almost no one. Taiga turned to face Ueda who walked into the room and shut the door as quiet as possible. Miyata wanted him to rest as well, because Domoto had of course damaged his injury from before, but Ueda needed to take care of some organizing and meeting with Nakai as well now that he was back as the trainer of the club and didn’t want to burden Nikaido with all the responsibilities.

“I tried to sleep, but I don’t actually feel that tired.”

Ueda wasn’t that convinced by that statement, but on the other hand he refused to rest as well.

“So how are you feeling?” Ueda asked in a low voice, looking over to the other three to make sure that he wouldn’t wake them up.

“Can we go to your room?” Taiga asked out of a sudden, making the older one raise an eyebrow at him for a brief moment, but something on Taiga’s look told him that he shouldn’t refuse now. Since the moment they had left the Mugen hideout behind them Ueda had felt that something wasn’t right and with all the people around them it was maybe hard for Taiga to just tell him what was on his mind, so in the end he nodded.

“Ehm, did you forget already that your leg is hurt?” Ueda scolded him when Taiga sat up and ignored Ueda’s move to lift him up and carry him to his room.

“It’s not such a long way. I just...want to go on my own.”

No he wasn’t okay at all and Ueda felt how he got more and more worried about the boy’s over calm attitude.

“Fine, but as soon as it hurts too much you tell me, okay?”

Taiga just nodded before he got up and walked carefully towards the door. As expected it took him some time to even make it to the stairs and his leg hurt more than he had first thought. So as much as he tried in the end Ueda helped him up to the second floor at least.

Stepping into Ueda’s room everything felt weirdly distant while he had hoped that a warm familiar feeling would await him at least here while he couldn’t actually feel back home even after coming back to the club.

“Shouldn’t you sit down for a while?” Ueda asked worried, but it was obvious how he tried to not say too much. As much as he had tried to hide it the whole time it was obvious that he also didn’t know how to handle the situation.

Not just them, but also all the other members and friends had tried to act as neutral as possible the day before, after all it was way too early for any kind of celebration.

Taiga slowly turned towards Ueda and the latter didn’t actually know how to face him so he leant with his back at the door and looked to the ground.

“Are you afraid to ask?” Taiga’s sudden question made Ueda raise his gaze towards him immediately and somehow Taiga felt extremely stupid for the direct question. Of course Ueda had understood the meaning and now there was so much hurt visible in his eyes, after all he had hurt as much as Taiga over the past months, just in a different way.

“I won’t ask if you don’t want to tell,” Ueda replied almost carefully on which Taiga slowly put his hand up to his upper body, resting his hand on his other arm, somehow feeling cold out of a sudden. That reply was making it even harder, because was there a need to say anything at all? Shouldn’t he just forget everything or at least burry it deep in the back of his head.

“The day Reo brought me there I thought I could get out on my own in no time or that you’d find me soon anyway,” Taiga said without even realizing how he spoke the words. Maybe it wasn’t something to keep in after all?

Ueda’s look had darkened a bit on those words even though Taiga hadn’t actually meant them as an accusation.

“You are a class five fighter in your mind, that was what you told me and those words helped me through a lot….but not to all of it…”

Taiga bit his lip and looked to the ground for a moment. Why did he keep speaking if he somehow felt nauseous all of a sudden? He could tell how his body was getting ready for a breakdown still he couldn’t keep things in anymore. Had he learnt from Reo that keeping things to himself would make him fall in the end?

“Bend, don’t break!” Taiga said in a low voice before he dared to look up at Ueda again, but he couldn’t keep his voice steady this time. “I didn’t break, but I bended so much that I wasn’t sure if I could get up once more.”

The change in Taiga’s voice made Ueda slowly get away from the wall and approach the boy, while Taiga tried to keep his body from shaking and forced his voice to work once more.

“Physical punishments grew to be my smallest problem at some point. The things they did to me...Domoto’s games, I-” With a shiver he remembered his first days in which he had been whipped several times, forced to wear a metal collar, pee his pants and wasn’t allowed to see for several days while people would abuse him. They were horrible memories and he wasn’t sure how long it would take to overcome them, but he wouldn’t try and ignore his struggle.

“Taiga,” Ueda spoke out of a sudden when the boy seemed to have lost himself in his thoughts and he blinked a few times, his body slightly shaking now. “For years you listened to all my worries, do you really think I mind listening to yours?”

No of course he wouldn’t mind, but that wasn’t Taiga’s problem and slowly his walls started crumbling as his body started shaking uncontrollable while he tried his best to stay calm, but he could feel his voice breaking before he even spoke. “I am afraid of what will happen if I tell you…”

“What do you think could happen?” Ueda asked in a calm voice, after all they had faced a similar problem before, but the focus had been on Taiga shutting his memories out which they both knew about at that time. Now things were different, because Ueda couldn’t even tell what horrible things would come to the surface if Taiga decided to talk about them.

“I don’t know, you might- don’t want me by your side anymore….”

It sounded ridiculous to Ueda, but he could see that Taiga actually meant what he said.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I- I was…” there was no way to keep calm Taiga finally figured out after his voice gave up on him several times and got replaced by sobs while he desperately tried to hold his tears back, but also that attempt finally failed. “Because I was unfaithful….”

“No you were not,” Ueda replied immediately without even needing any kind of detailed explanation, because he could already perfectly tell in what kind of twisted state of mind Taiga had dropped to.

“No you don’t understand,” Taiga tried again, but out of a sudden Ueda made a few almost threatening steps towards him while Taiga shook his head and wanted to back off. “Domoto’s games were one thing, but Reo...I just drowned at some point- I just couldn’t-”

When Taiga’s explanation was nothing more than sobs mixed with inarticulate words scraps Ueda pulled him in his embrace and that just in time before Taiga got his foreseen breakdown. Ueda didn’t let him slide to the ground and held on to him while Taiga buried his face on the latter’s chest, his sobs finally turning into bitter weeping mixed with desperate screams as if he tried to free himself from an invisible chain holding him down.

All Ueda could do was holding on to him, showing him that no matter what he wouldn’t leave! He wouldn’t even take a single step backwards, nor would he ever let go of him ever again!

It was the first step into the right direction and it would take them a long way to make it back to a healthy relationship with Taiga getting mentally stable enough to actually understand what had happened. At the moment the line between actions which had been forced onto him and decision he had made on his own was blurry and hard to divide.

Maybe for now it didn’t matter how much he was able to tell. Just knowing that Ueda was with him and that no matter what he would tell, he was going to remain at his side that was what Taiga needed to know! Together they were the strongest team and this was just another obstacle in their way which they would overcome as long as they stood by each other’s side!

***

It was hectic inside the training room with all the people which needed to get treated as fast as possible and while Miyata, Abe and Kento were busy with the people in critical conditions, Juri and Kochi were helping out with the general things, like blankets, food and water.

“I don’t need anything, leave me alone,” was the reply Kochi got when he wanted to hand one of their own fight club members a bottle of water. It hadn’t been the first rude reply he got over the day and it wouldn’t be the last.

Instead of reacting to the other one’s offended attitude he just pulled back his arm and wanted to leave, but out of a sudden someone grabbed his arm and turned him back. With the next move a hand on his neck forced him to bow to the front and he almost let the bottle drop.

“So and now it’s your time to say sorry, because that has to come out of your mouth and not mine,” Fuma was heard next to him, but Kochi just kept looking to the ground instead of facing the person in front of him.

“Kochi, don’t make me regret that I brought you back!”

With a sigh Kochi closed his eyes for a moment before he bowed a bit lower so that Fuma let go off him. “I am sorry for betraying the club and cause all of you so much trouble. It is asked way too much to forgive me that easily, but please give me and also Juri another chance to gain your trust once more.”

Kochi was sure that a mocking glare would await him when he dared to look up, but the member didn’t seem to make fun out of him at all. His look was serious and suddenly he stretched out his arm.

“Give me the water.”

Kochi did what he was told and the member took it from him, which actually made Kochi feel a bit happy, because even though the member didn’t say it out loud it was clear that this move was his way to say that he would give him one more chance. Kochi bowed towards him once more before he turned towards Fuma who pulled him away from the people around towards the ring.

“Congrats, you finally learned how to ignore your pride. Now you just have to do the same without me kicking your ass each time.”

“Pride…” Kochi whispered with his look darkening a bit. “Guess I lost that one already the moment I entered the Dancing Rascals.”

When he kept drowning in the memories of his past Fuma suddenly ruffled through his hair on which Kochi looked up at him again, finding Fuma cracking a teasing smile at him.

“You know as soon as all this chaos has finally calmed down I want a detailed explanation of everything, you know that, right?”

“Oh, why is that? Are you so interested in our past?” Juri was heard next to him as he also tried to get away from all the people for a moment to take a break.

“I am interested in hearing the reason which made you enter Mugen.”

“Dancing Rascals,” Juri corrected him.

“Whatever, there is a lot of explanation to be done here!”

Juri and Kochi exchanged a brief look, on which Fuma raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You don’t actually want to know about our personal past, but need to get an explanation about who was a member of which troop,” Kochi concluded.

“That’s not important,” Fuma said.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you have no clue how Avernus was structured and who was with whom, right?”

“As I said-”

“Which troop was Hagiya from?” Juri interrupted him.

“That’s not important at the moment. Stop smiling like idiots!” Fuma scolded them and pushed Juri back on his shoulders on which the boy cracked an even wider teasing smile.

“Then let’s try if you remember which troop I was with?” Another person spoke up and when they turned Shintaro was standing next to them, an amused expression on his face.

“Come on, you were with Ueda the whole time. I just met you here in the club. I didn’t even speak to you much.”

“And to be fair, even I have no clue who you are,” Juri let out with a confused expression on which Shintaro looked at him kind of apologizing.

“Same here to be honest.”

“What, you don’t know each other even though you were all with Avernus?” Fuma asked in confusion, but even Kochi just shrugged his shoulders.

“The troops were apart for a long time and just the leaders met regularly,” Kochi explained.

“When I came here with Ueda and the others we didn’t actually speak about which troop I came from. But now there are no troops left anyway,” Shintaro said relieved before he faced Kochi and Juri again.

“Luckily not,” Juri replied. “For our cover it was definitely better that we hadn’t met before.”

Kochi and Fuma hit him on the back of the head simultaneous and the boy yelped before he stepped back and hid behind Shintaro.

“Guys, I am happy to be back, but with Fuma here as well I feel like back at the old times and I don’t need to get you two to team up against me!”

Kochi and Fuma looked at each other with a knowing look on that, both crossing their arms to their chests. “Guess you’ve to watch out what you are doing from now on.” Fuma said teasingly.

“I so damn hate you two, you know that, right?” Juri said pointing at them over Shintaro’s shoulder on which Fuma raised an eyebrow and made a step forward. Juri squealed and suddenly grabbed Shintaro’s hand to drag him away. “Shin-chan, let’s go!”

“Shin-chan?” Kochi said with an amused expression as Juri dragged the younger one away. The boy didn’t seem to be bothered about being called like that, which was making a smile appear on the remaining two faces.

“Guess they will get along well,” Fuma concluded on which Kochi nodded.

“Not all members of Avernus were bad after all. Some just lost their way...like Aran.”

The mention of the boy’s name made Fuma sigh. “I still didn’t hear everything of their story, but I doubt that the boy was as dangerous as he pretended to be.”

“Trust me, he wasn’t. He was just lost. He didn’t join that long ago, but his aura was so different from the other boys which were with Avernus for years like me. The most dangerous of all is definitely Hagiya though.”

“He seemed so nice when he was here, I heard from the others. He never slipped, he always had this perfect mask, and not even Reo was able to keep it all the time.”

Kochi nodded with a dark expression. “Reo was Domoto’s right hand, because Domoto liked having dangerous puppets, taking that risk made him fall in the end. Hagiya would have been the better choice to succeed, but it would have been too boring for him. The boy would do everything for him and he is the perfect killer machine.”

“Do you think he will come back?” Fuma asked worried.

“If he comes back then with a plan. He won’t just jump out a corner and kill the members which betrayed Avernus. With Aran the problem was that he had seen his betrayal coming, so he took care of him right away. But he won’t just take revenge for Domoto’s death, which doesn’t mean that he won’t come after Reo in the end, because the boy took his chance away to rule over the Underground together with Domoto.”

“So this war is over, but who knows what the next Generation is up to?”

“What will you and Kento do from here?” Kochi asked on which Fuma stayed silent for a moment.

“I’ve to talk to someone first to be sure what to do.”

“Mhh,” Kochi replied with a teasing expression.

“Stop analyzing me,” Fuma shot back and pushed the boy to the side on which Kochi let out a laughter. “Don’t make me stop what I can do best.”

“Fine, just don’t tell anyone.”

“Of course, the big announcement will be all yours,” Kochi replied before he walked away with a bright smile.

“Why the heck did I bring him back,” Fuma said to himself with a small smile forming on his lips as well.

***


	20. Chapter 20

It wasn’t like Kentaro wasn’t awake, but he was also aware of the fact that Nikaido was next to him the whole time, so most of the time he just pretended to be still asleep.

When Nikaido finally left the room at one point it was obviously because he had realized that Ueda and Taiga were gone. Carefully Kentaro cracked one eye open and let out a sigh as he realized that he finally had some space.

First all he did was staring at the ceiling. The wall inside his head, keeping all the pain away got weaker with every passing minute and he knew that he couldn’t pretend to be asleep for more than a whole day. With a determined expression he sat up and pushed the blanket away.

“If you are not planning on helping the others in the training room I’d advise you to not get out of this room.”

Kentaro swirled around as he hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t alone after all. Reo was sitting crossed legged on the bed at the end of the room, facing the boy with a tired expression.

“It’s not your business what I am doing in my own club,” Kentaro shot back at him, not even knowing himself why he reacted that childish, especially when he should thank Reo instead, because if it wasn’t for him, Taiga would maybe not have survived.

“But I know that running away won’t solve the problem,” Reo said when Kentaro got up from the bed and headed for the door.

“Who says I am running away from anything?”

All Reo had to do on this was giving Kentaro a knowing look and the boy let out a sigh before he turned to him. “So as you seem to know so much about my problems, then let me ask you: What shall I do?”

“Accept reality.”

“Wow, so easy? Thank you so much for your advice!”

Kentaro turned away and took the handle in his hand, but then he halted. What was he actually planning to do? Too many times had he ended up in trouble, because of exactly this behavior. Nikaido wouldn’t just freak out if he wasn’t here when he came back, but maybe also get extremely disappointed, because after everything that happened it wouldn’t be fair of Kentaro to leave him out of his thoughts, would it?

With a determined expression he turned on his heels and faced Reo who looked a bit confused. When he started walking towards Reo’s bed the boy’s expression turned to something which could almost be seen as panicked. After all this wasn’t the Mugen hideout anymore. He had a lot of enemies here and he also didn’t know Kentaro that well. Still he succeeded in just remaining in the same position until Kentaro reached him. Without another word the boy climbed on the bed and sat down in front of Reo.

A few minutes went by in silence and Reo blinked at the older one in slight curiosity until Kentaro crossed his arms to his chest and finally spoke. “Why did Aran join Mugen?”

“He actually joined the Dancing Rascals,” Reo let out, but one death glare from Kentaro made Reo bit his lip. “Sorry.”

“Why did he join you and when?” Kentaro asked again and this time Reo finally seem to relax a little bit after he realized that Kentaro wasn’t actually here to scold him, but to indeed face reality and for that he actually needed to know more about Aran’s decisions.

“Let me ask you something first,” Reo said and faced the boy with a serious look. “When did you come to this fight club?”

“Two years ago,” Kentaro replied neutral.

“Then there you have the reply to both of your questions already.”

It was just a brief moment in which Kentaro got angry and wanted to ask if he was making fun of him, but then he understood and a huge stone dropped in his stomach. The street fight! His escape to the Fight Club! Of course this was the reason.

“I didn’t try to contact him. I hadn’t forgotten, but I was afraid. I didn’t want other members to find me and I didn’t want him to be part of my mess and get hurt.”

“But he got hurt,” Reo said in a calm voice. The look he received told him that Kentaro didn’t want to hear more, but he needed to know more. “Aran was just a shadow of himself when he joined us. Domoto spotted him at a street fight event. Let me explain,” Reo said while lifting his hand after it was obvious that Kentaro wanted to interrupt him.

“I got to talk to Aran when he joined. It was one of the rare times we were back in Tokyo and Domoto splitted up some members to the Storm Warriors and Dancing Rascals. Aran didn’t give me any details, but he explained that he was looking for someone, but somehow he had ended up giving up on finding him, but he still remained in the Underground, because he felt trapped. He had left his troop and searched for you at so many places. He got chased by the yakuza a lot, fought for information and made his money through street fights. Domoto’s offer to join him was his final decision to leave his past behind.”

Each word hurt Kentaro like a knife in the chest, but he couldn’t pretend like he hadn’t known about the reason already. “I should have known that he would keep looking for me.”

“But you didn’t. Because what I saw over the last weeks when Aran came to our hideout is not what I see when I look at you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aran’s condition didn’t get better even after entering Avernus. He kept working like a puppet, something holding him down in the dark shadow he was trapped in. But when we came back to Tokyo and I met him, he had changed. He had found you!”

Just a few days ago he would have maybe replied something stupid on this, but now he finally had heard from Aran why he had turned his back on him even though he had been so happy to find him.

“He didn’t want to interfere in my new life,” Kentaro let out in a low voice. “He was happy for me that I found someone like Nikaido.”

This time Reo didn’t reply anything. He could see that Kentaro just needed to sort things out for himself now. Nothing Reo had just said was new for the boy, but it was necessary to completely understand the meaning behind it, to accept it.

Kentaro lowered his eyes on the space between him and Reo, putting his hands down and looking at them with a lost stare. “He loved me the same way as after our first kiss…” A bitter chuckle was heard next before Kentaro lowered his eyes so much that his hair was hiding them. “Isn’t it ridiculous how someone clings so much on the past? On someone who had actually left him behind?”

“You weren’t able to leave Nikaido either, even though he left you behind, right?”

It wasn’t even surprising Kentaro that Reo knew about that, after all he seemed to know about everything going on in the Underground. “It doesn’t matter if the other person feels the same. If you are truly in love with someone, you will go through hell for them.”

His words sounded like he had experienced something similar, but Kentaro didn’t feel like he should ask about it. Somehow there was not as much grief in his words as he had expected, so maybe he had talked about the topic with someone already.

“True love, mh?” Kentaro voiced out before he slightly flinched when his own tear dropped on his hand. There were no sobs and he didn’t feel like getting any kind of big breakdown, because yes he had indeed accepted reality. He couldn’t make anything undone. Neither his own actions nor Aran’s. They had both chosen their own paths and had made their own decisions.

“Treasure his memory,” Reo replied before he got off the bed. When Kentaro heard the door opening and closing again he couldn’t wonder, but how Reo was actually so good in reading the atmosphere while a cold and arrogant attitude would fit him way better as a former Mugen member. On the other hand he could tell quite good why he got along so well with Taiga. They were quite similar after all. Kentaro would normally never have such a talk if it wasn’t with Taiga.

 

***

Things got a bit calmer over the next days, but the atmosphere was still tense, especially because with most of the people gone from the training room and back at their troops or own fight clubs the question what to do from now on came up.

A lot of talks have gone on over last days. Shintaro and Juri had given themselves the mission to cheer everyone up a little bit, while Kento talked a lot to Abe and Saku. Kochi stuck with Fuma most of the time, while Miyadate and Watanabe tried to stay away from the med room as much as possible, to not freak at Reo.

Nikaido and Ueda tried to get everything under control as best as possible, but they couldn’t hide their own problems, but they were also aware of the fact that both their partners needed some space. While Taiga had at least opened up and was ready to try his best to get back on track, Kentaro was still a bit careful around Nikaido and the older one respected his silence. He knew time would heal his wounds.

“Still hiding?” Taiga asked in a teasing way when he entered the med room and walked over to Kentaro’s bed. The older one flashed him a smile, yet he could see that it was fake.

“It’s not like this place would be a good hiding place with all the people coming and going here,” Kentaro replied and shifted with his back at the pillows and crossed his legs, so that Taiga could sit down in front of him.

“Did you talk to Nikaido?”

“Don’t you think I would have left this room then already?”

“Also true,” Taiga replied with a brief smile. After all he was staying at Ueda’s room for the last days already. The older one still gave him a lot of space, but Taiga was sure that he could tell how safe he felt around him even though he would still need some time to recover completely.

“Did he comment on your hair?”

“Pardon?”

Kentaro let out a chuckle on Taiga’s confused look before he stretched out his arm and played with the short strands of Taiga’s hair. “I like it to be honest. Somehow it makes you look more masculine, somehow cooler.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Taiga replied with a teasing look. “But no, Tatsuya still didn’t say anything. I guess he wants to keep simple topics like that for later.”

“So what do you think, does he like it?”

“Mh, maybe? They are shorter than his now, but I might dye them back to blonde at some point.”

“Oh, already pissing your protector off again?”

On that Taiga hit Kentaro against the chest and the boy played hurt and put his hands over it. They both kept laughing for a moment before Kentaro sat up a bit to the front and took one of Taiga’s hands in his. Taiga looked at him in slight curiosity, while the boy squeezed his hand with a bright smile.

“I am so happy to have you back!”

“Trust me it’s the same for me. Even though I have to say I am a bit sad that we didn’t make it toAomori. I seriously wanted to see a lot of snow this winter.”

Taiga’s sulking expression made Kentaro chuckle and he shook his head. “Guess that has to wait until your next trip. But please don’t plan it too soon or Nikaido will quit the club with all the trainer responsibilities.”

“No worries, I just came home, there is no way I am going to leave again soon. And not to forget, I guess I’ve to ask Nakai to put me in a new fight class.”

“Excuse me, what?” Kentaro said in a played annoyed voice. “I beat you at the Avernus hideout, remember?”

“I held back, you know that.”

“Pff, as if! Just because you got some badass training over there, doesn’t mean you can suddenly play in an higher class here.”

“Says the one who just entered class 4.”

“That is...wait, WHAT?”

Taiga burst out laughing on Kentaro’s shocked expression and put his hand in front of his mouth as he couldn’t stop smiling. “Taiga, what is that about? Are you kidding me?”

“Remember, my protector is the trainer, so I have all the information he gets from Nakai and yes you will enter the 4th class as soon as we get back to the normal fight club routine.”

Kentaro let out an annoyed groan on that and fell back on the pillows. “Unbelievable. They really want to kill me!”

“At least we both have to struggle in our new classes then, because unfortunately I ended up in the 3rd class.”

“Unfortunately? Just now you said you wanted in a new one!”

“That was a joke,” Taiga teased him and hit him against his leg.

“At least Ueda is back as the trainer, like this we have a chance of surviving.”

“Wow, was Nikaido that horrible?”

“You know how he is, you can imagine him with so much responsibility!”

“Now I am really happy I wasn’t here,” Taiga said with a chuckle before he suddenly got up from the bed.

“Are you meeting with Ueda?”

“I was actually looking for someone else, but because he isn’t here I guess I’ve to look elsewhere.”

Kentaro gave him a knowing look on that, before he nodded. “We owe him a lot.”

“I owe him more than I can ever repay I fear.”

“But you seem to have done a lot for him as well.”

“You can say we rescued each other,” Taiga let out with a bitter, yet somehow proud smile.

“Then go and find him, before Watanabe finds him.”

***

The air on the rooftop was getting warmer over noon and it was the first sign of spring approaching slowly. The moment Taiga stepped out on it he found the person he was looking for immediately. It felt kind of weird to see Reo lying near the edge of the roof, while that was normally Taiga’s place. But somehow it didn’t alarm him at all to see him there, it was the opposite actually. Reo was lying on his back, his eyes closed and never before had he seen such a relaxed expression on his face.

“Thought I’ve run away?”

Before Taiga could even get closer to the boy, Reo had of course realized that he was there. Even if he seemed relaxed his senses were as sharp as always, which was definitely for the better. After all Watanabe would maybe just push him from the roof if he found him like this.

“You know exactly that I’d find you if you ran away.”

“Yeah, guess I’m not in the mood to get chased, so staying here is definitely the better choice,” Reo let out before he cracked an eye open the moment Taiga stopped next to him. “How are things going with your protector and your friends?”

“Right, because you came up here to have a small talk like that,” Taiga scolded him before he sat down next to him. Reo closed his eyes again and didn’t bother sitting up.

“The cruel assassin isn’t allowed to have small talk now?”

Taiga hit him against his knee on that comment on which Reo chuckled. “Did you have a talk with Kentaro?”

“Yeah, just now, but I’ve the feeling he had a talk with someone else before?”

“Oh, really? Good for him.”

This time Taiga pinched the younger one in the leg and Reo jolted, looking up at him with a scolding look. “What the heck was that for?”

“Nothing special,” Taiga said shrugging his shoulders, before looking up at the clear sky. “Anyways, thank you.”

Instead of replying anything to that Reo just nodded. For a moment he wanted to just lie down again, but he gave up after a few more minutes of silence and sat up.

“Is Watanabe still on the hunt for me?”

“Let’s say you should make sure not to get close to him if no one is there to hold him back.”

“Are you seriously afraid I could lose?”

A death glare from Taiga was the reply he got and the boy gave him an apologizing look. “Fine, I won’t pick any fights with him.”

“Not just with him, Reo. You are not picking any fights at all, is that clear?”

“Who are you, my mum?”

“Welcome to my home, here I am actually the mum. Okay maybe after Kochi.”

“That I believe right away,” Reo let out with a chuckle and Taiga cracked a smile as well. “So things have calmed down I heard?”

“Yes, the only people left now are our own members and they are all back at their rooms. Kitayama and Kamenashi are still making sure that the areas are secure, but it’s a tough challenge with just those two troops and not enough members.”

“What about the other fight clubs?”

“The ones Shintaro and Sou brought from Chiba and close by already left again and the Osaka club actually came in the morning together with Tegoshi.”

“So Tegoshi is back with you guys?”

“Actually...he left.”

“What?” That actually made even Reo tilt his head in confusion, after all he had met Tegoshi several times and knew of course everything about what happened at the tournament.

“I think he might come back at some point, but for now this place would just put him through a way too cruel misery.”

Tegoshi hadn’t looked good at all when they had met in the morning and when even Ryo looked worried for him that had to mean something. Ryo had met with Nakai and Ueda in private, telling them about the condition he had found Tegoshi in and even though Tegoshi tried to make everyone believe that he was fine, it was obvious that he wasn’t. He had taken his revenge, but it wouldn’t make Massu come back. It wouldn’t fill the black hole in his chest and maybe nothing could actually bring him back on track, but they needed to at least try. The North Tokyo Fight Club was Tegoshi’s home and he had a lot of friends here, they all had told him in the morning that this would forever be his place to come back to. He had lost Senga and he had lost Massu, but he still had so many of his friends left at his side and they wanted him to realize that.

Tegoshi had thanked them all for their support and had promised to not just disappear. For now he would join the Osaka fight club, just to get some distance from all the chaos, maybe that was what he actually needed.

“Guess all you can do is wait for him to come back then.”

“Yes, and I know that he will come back at some point. I could see that he was struggling like we all do at the moment. Everyone of us need to find their own path now.”

Reo kept staring to the ground on that statement with a lost stare, not realizing how Taiga kept looking at him. “Reo, what’s your path?”

“Mh?” Reo looked up at him with the most neutral expression he could come up with, but Taiga just shook his head and got up, walking a few steps away from him.

“I can easily break your walls down, Reo. You don’t have to pretend anything in front of me, you know that,” Taiga said in a serious tone this time, still facing Reo with his back.

“Break...yeah I always break easily, because I never learned how to bend.”

“And here you still succeeded in teaching me how to do so.”

“Guess this advice wasn’t meant for me in the first place,” Reo let out in a bitter tone on which Taiga finally turned towards him. “It’s too late to rescue me, but I am happy that I was able to rescue you.”

“Then tell me what you consider to be rescued?”

Reo stayed silent on that question for a while before he looked up in the sky with a thoughtful expression. “Nikaido, Kentaro, Fuma, Tegoshi...they all lost important people in their lives. Still they have people supporting them, helping them up when they are ready to break. They are there to rescue them! I lost someone and got thrown into hell instead of getting pulled out. I even fell so deep that I took the life of other people, regardless if I hurt their friends and families with it or not. There is no place for someone like me, no one who would come to my rescue.”

When there was silence after his words Reo looked down again, finding Taiga right in front of him. The boy faced him with an almost angry expression, but Reo’s eyes traveled towards the boy’s hand instead. He had stretched it out towards him.

“Then what did I do until now? Why did you take my hand when you could have just turned your back on me?”

“I wanted to rescue you, that is why-”

“One more stupid word out of your mouth and I will kick you down this roof,” Taiga warned him. “Kitayama killed Nikaido’s best friend and still here Kentaro can be with him without Nikaido ripping him to pieces. You know why? Because there is some amazing thing hidden in people’s heart, it’s called forgiveness! No matter how often Nikaido gets annoyed by Kitayama, no matter how much he tells everyone that he will never forgive him, he actually already did! Because otherwise Kitayama wouldn’t even be alive anymore. Kitayama was on a wrong path, he wasn’t a bad person and we all could see that. All he needed was someone to believe in him!”

Taiga took another step forward, holding his hand almost under the boy’s face, but Reo still hesitated. He bit his lip and looked to the ground. “What if I am not like Kitayama? What if I will betray you guys as well? Hagiya is also still out there. Everything connected to Avernus will just cause you trouble.”

“And?”

Reo raised an eyebrow at Taiga’s calm reply and when he looked up at him he found a confident smile on the boy’s lips. “Dude, you don’t even know how much we all love trouble. We are all like magnets when it comes to trouble! Ask Kentaro, he is the number one troublemaker in the whole Underground.”

“So what, you want to add another one?” Reo asked in disbelief, but that was indeed what Taiga was actually saying. “You guys are really crazy.”

“I’d say that is exactly why you fit perfectly into our chaotic Underground life,” Taiga replied with a teasing smile on which Reo finally chuckle and let out a thoughtful sigh before he straightened his back.

“I’ll remind you of this when the next chaos comes up.”

“Deal!”

With the next move Reo lifted his hand and put it in Taiga’s. the boy squeezed it with a bright smile before he pulled Reo up to his feet.

“Welcome to your new family.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone^^/  
> Thank you all for keeping up with story for this long!  
> So there is one more chapter after this, but it is more of an epilogue, so this one is more or less the last official chapter!  
> For me personally it's the most emotional one I wrote so far and I really hope you liked how I resolved things for most of the characters~  
> I am going to upload the Epilogue soon as well to finally end the whole Tokyo Fight Club series!

“Okay I already don’t like this, what is going on?” Kentaro asked when he walked inside the training room after Kochi had told him to come.

Everyone was gathered there and unfortunately he had a weird feeling about it, especially because Kitayama and Kamenashi had come as well.

“There are a few announcements to make, so I wanted everyone to gather,” Nakai explained.

Taiga stood with Reo next to Ueda and luckily on the other side of the room, because Watanabe was still not exactly calm around him, not that anyone would blame him for that. Miyadate wouldn’t stop him if he attacked him, but luckily they had Saku and Abe to calm them down.

“Okay let’s start with the easy stuff,” Nakai started, stepping in front of the group with Kitayama and Kamenashi next to him. “The fight clubs will resume regular training from next week. Myuto’s club will need some more time, but Fukka’s club and the other regular clubs for tournaments will all continue as before.”

They all nodded on that announcement, because why would they not agree? They needed to find back to their regular life anyways.

“Miyadate and Watanabe entered our club for the battle against Avernus, but as they told me earlier they are going back to Sendai next week.”

“You are leaving?” Kentaro asked perplex and somehow he felt like the only one who haven’t heard about it, but how should he? Ueda and Nikaido knew everything Nakai knew and Taiga definitely got told as well. Fuma and Kento had maybe heard it from the boys directly. He was the one hiding in the med room the whole time.

“We want to build up a new fight club in Sendai,” Saku explained.

“We can’t let all the fame get taken by you guys, right?” Miyadate teased them.

“So you are all going to be in the same club?” Kentaro asked and Watanabe looked at Miyadate with a smile before he nodded.

“And on the way we will bring Sou home,” Abe explained, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“And there is nothing you can do about that,” Fuma interfered before the boy could complain, which he was obviously up to and he bit his lip with a guilty expression.

“You have a place to return to and as much as we are grateful for your help, we want to see you back in a safe place,” Kento said with a smile and Sou nodded.

“Thank you everyone for helping me through this. Without you I’d have definitely not survived the night at the Reapers,” Sou said before bowing to all of them.

“Actually I am not sure if Ryosuke would have hurt you,” Fuma said to everyone’s surprise, but Kento nodding next to him, showed that Ryosuke seemed to have changed in the end after all. It was a shame that after finding someone who could actually tame his temper that they had to part that early.

“Okay, so the next announcements are the new fight classes, but somehow I’ve the feeling you all got told already.”

Ueda looked away innocently on Nakai’s intense stare, but the low chuckles in the room showed that he was right.

“So Taiga is up in the 3rd class, Kentaro in the 4th and Fuma will join us in the 5th class this time.”

First there was silent nodding until Kentaro and even Taiga looked up at Fuma with wide eyes. “FUMA?”

Taiga shot Ueda a scolding glare for not telling him, but it was obvious that Fuma had asked him not to tell anyone. Even Nikaido didn’t seem to have known about this announcement.

“You come back? Why? Not that we wouldn’t be happy, but what’s about your new found life?”

“Kentaro, calm down,” Kento soothed him with a calm voice. “Let us explain.”

He nodded and looked at Fuma with an impatient look.

“Okay, so I will fight as before, but we won’t live together with you guys. We had a talk with Nakai earlier and he allowed us to stay in our own house and I come for training. Kento will come when he is needed.”

“What do you mean with when he is needed?” Taiga asked, tilting his head.

“I am going to attend a medical school from now on,” Kento explained.

“For real? That’s awesome!” Kentaro let out.

“We actually came up with it after talking to Abe. He was the assistant for their fight club’s doctor, so I asked Nakai and Miyata if I could be the assistant here. Like this I can study through the money Fuma makes and help out here as well.”

“Yeah I guess with a daily job it would be hard to afford med school,” Taiga concluded on which Fuma nodded.

“Exactly, that is why Kento allowed me after some begging to join again.”

“I totally wanted to see the begging part,” Juri interfered on which Fuma shot him a death glare.

“I am going to hit you the moment this meeting is over.”

Juri stepped behind Shintaro on that warning immediately.

“And now that I am one fight class over you I will definitely enjoy my sparring time with you!”

Juri exchanged a brief look with Kochi on that and suddenly their faces turned darker. When their looks turned to Kitayama and Kamenashi next, Kentaro needed a moment to find his voice.

“You are leaving, aren’t you?”

“What?” Fuma asked almost shocked, because this time it seemed like no one had heard about it.

“Okay, I think this is the moment we have to explain some things,” Kamenashi interfered.

“I don’t like that start,” Kentaro let out worried and looked up at Nikaido, but the latter seemed like he had heard about what they were going to announce and it didn’t seem like something bad. But maybe that depended on the point of view.

“Reo, would you please come over to us?” Kitayama asked and the boy automatically looked at Taiga first, but the older one also didn’t know what was going on so he could just give him a nod and the boy slowly walked up to the Triangle Members.

“Let’s keep this explanation as easy as possible,” Kamenashi said as he saw the worried look of the boy. “Nagatsuma Reo, as the remaining leaders of the Titanium Triangle we want you to take the place as the new leader of the Reapers.”

“Excuse me, what?” Reo asked right away as if that was the worst joke he had ever heard.

“Are you serious?” Watanabe asked kind of annoyed, but Miyadate gave him a side glance to signal him that it was definitely not his moment to interfere.

“You are the one who killed Ryosuke, so you are officially going to take his place. At the Reapers the new leader takes the place by killing the old leader, that is also how Ryosuke got to his position,” Kitayama explained.

“Wait, I killed him because Domoto wanted to get rid of him, not to become a part of the Triangle. There is no way the remaining members would even accept that decision….” Reo looked at the two leaders, but the looks he received made clear that he was wrong. “You already asked them? They said it’s ok?”

“Say indeed said that, yes,” Kamenashi explained.

“Why? Come on I know why Ryosuke killed the former leader, it’s completely different in my case. They should hate me!”

“The Reapers members are not the type to take revenge for their former leaders, but they are extremely stubborn when it comes to traditions,” Kitayama said.

“But of course you can refuse,” Kamenashi said, but lifted his hand before Reo could blur out a direct reply. “But before you decide, let me explain something. The Triangle lost a pillar and with that a lot of influence in Tokyo. Uproars and fights will increase like this. The stability of the Underground is in danger if we can’t control everything. And we also have Hagiya on the run, which means we can be sure that at some point the boy will return.”

“And the question is what you were planning with your life from now on? If you want to have your own restart somewhere else, we won’t stop you, but this is a chance we will just offer once,” Kitayama added.

For a moment silence followed on which Reo tried to sort his thoughts, but it wouldn’t work. He looked up at the leaders, and then he slowly turned around to the fight club members. And even though Watanabe and Miyadate weren’t happy at all about the decision, that was clear, no one seemed actually surprised or wanted to make him leave the Underground. This time he didn’t look at Taiga, but turned to someone else instead. “What do you think?”

“Me?” Kento asked a bit perplex.

“From all the people gathered here you knew the Reapers the best, you were the closest to Ryosuke.”

“Yes that’s kind of true, but I can’t make that decision for you.”

“Would you accept me as a leader of the Reapers? As a member of the Triangle?”

“I-” Kento struggled for a moment, but then he halted and gave Reo a serious look. “As many bad things you did to all of us, you also helped us a lot and to be honest even though you killed Ryosuke I am sure he would actually like the idea of you replacing him.”

Again no one except Reo was surprised by those words. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about the Underground after all. He knew facts and events, but nothing about the emotions which connected the people which each other.

“But what has my decision to do with them?” Reo asked, pointing at Juri and Kochi.

“If you decide to become a Triangle member, we will join the Reapers and help you,” Kochi explained.

“Are you out of your mind? You got a second chance here, why would you throw it away?” Reo hissed at them.

“Exactly because they forgave us,” Juri explained. “We want to show them that we can be helpful for the Underground. It’s our way to pay for what we did.”

“And we can’t let you rule over such a big area without people which know you as long as we do,” Kochi replied with a lopsided smile.

“And in case you are getting too annoying he will kick your ass,” Juri said pointing at Shintaro.

“What? Shintaro you are joining them as well?” Taiga interfered in pure disbelieve.

“I indeed plan to, of course just if Reo accepts.”

“Guys, this is ridiculous. You can’t put your lives in my hands that easily,” Reo stuttered while taking a step back and shaking his head. “After everything I’ve done to you! I killed your friends, I took them away from you, I hurt so many of your, why would you want to stay by my side?”

“Exactly because of this hesitation,” Kochi let out on which Reo’s look turned even more disbelieving. “Don’t you get it? Reo, we saw how often you hesitated to hurt Taiga! How often you refused orders and got punished instead of him. Now you are staying in our middle and try to make us believe that you are unworthy of getting our support and trust. You are regretting your choices and that is what it takes to make a new start!”

“The only one standing in your way is yourself,” Taiga said out of a sudden, making the boy turn to him and a warm smile was what he saw.

It took Reo another moment of raising thoughts to turn back to the Triangle leaders, before he looked up with a serious look and the two men waited patiently for his reply.

“There is one condition,” Reo voiced out. “Promise me that when I seem not capable anymore of handling the responsibility you all will make sure to stop me.”

There were nods and supportive looks on that condition before Reo looked back at Kamenashi and Kitayama. “I will accept your request and become the new leader of the Reapers.”

***

A careful knock on the door. The moment Nikaido opened it Kentaro felt like thrown back to a situation a few months ago and somehow he didn’t seem to be the only one feeling that way.

“Is Nakai watching you this time?” The amused undertone in Nikaido’s voice made it easier for Kentaro to crack a brief smile.

“Can I come in?”

“Let me reply with the time on that, it’s 2am and you don’t look like you would be able to sleep any time soon.”

Instead of replying anything on that Kentaro stepped inside Nikaido’s room after the older one held the door open for him. “Did you sleep at all over the last days, because pretending to sleep while I am sitting next to you isn’t actually helping you.”

So of course he had noticed, but it shouldn’t even surprise Kentaro anymore. The meeting with everyone had been a few days ago and somehow Kentaro felt like he was left behind while everyone else was somehow adapting to the situation. With Fuma and Kento being back he was of course feeling happy, but Juri and Kochi actually leaving the club made him feel sad as well. And here he had to grief about the loss of one of his most precious people in his life as well, but when he had suddenly reminded himself of that topic he realized that something had changed over the last days and he had ended up coming here.

“I could sleep at least a bit over the last days, but tonight I just-” Kentaro shook his head as he sat down on the bed and hid his face in his hands for a moment.

“Come on, whatever it is I am here to listen, you know that,” Nikaido replied as he sat down next to him on the bed with a patient look.

“You know over the last days I felt like running away from everyone and everything, but then I had a talk with Reo about having to face reality to be able to move on and sure I understood what he meant, but still I hid in the med room for some days longer, but then we had that meeting and I talked to Taiga as well, later to Fuma and the others. I also said goodbye to Tegoshi the other day. It felt so...normal? And then today when I went to bed as if it was just another random day I realized that yes indeed, I had treated it as a normal day and I feel like the worst person existing.”

Nikaido understood the problem right away, but of course they saw the situation from a different point of view. “You didn’t think about him over the last days, that’s what bothers you, right?”

“It’s been barely two weeks since everything happened, how can I even dare to behave like everything was okay?”

“Kentaro, do you really think Aran would want you to grief for forever?”

“But definitely longer than two weeks,” Kentaro replied, mocking himself, but then Nikaido’s hand landed on his shoulder to get his attention.

“When I lost Wataru I grieved for months and let me tell you it wasn’t a good decision. Guilt was hunting me for years after that you remember how easily I got influenced at that time when that topic came up.”

“Then you should understand-”

“Aran’s death is not your fault! Don’t you ever dare to persuade yourself with that lie.” This time Nikaido’s look had darkened a bit and Kentaro bit his lip, knowing that he shouldn’t try to run away from reality like this.

“I know you wanted to get him out, I know you have a lot ‘what if’ scenarios in your head at the moment. I had the same after Senga died. What if I had gone with you that evening! What if I had not allowed you to go out that night? Endless self-recrimination, repeating inside your head like a resounding echo and it will break if you don’t watch out, but you know what, the reason it stops at some point, is exactly because the person we lost wants us to be happy!”

Kentaro blinked at him in confusion as he didn’t actually understood what he meant.

“I grieved for Senga a few days, maybe it was weeks, but every day it got better and you know why? Because each time I felt an empty space next to me I also felt the warmth he had brought into my life. The support he had given me over all the years and all the memories I would forever carry with me. It’s the same for you! The first time you lost him it was guilt making you forget about him, the same way I forgot about my past with the Fire Foxes. This time you lost him with all the memories of your good and also bad times remaining! You won’t forget anymore! You won’t block out those memories! That is why you can face your friends with a smile again. You indeed finally faced reality and you know that you can’t change the past, but you also know that he will forever remain important to you and that you will forever thank him for protecting you, even though you had wished for a better life for him instead.”

He didn’t want to cry again, why did he always have to cry that easily? Even though he had looked to the ground the moment he realized that he wouldn’t be able to keep it together on Nikaido’s words the older one had of course realized his breakdown.

And while everyone else had just given him space over the last days, Nikaido was different as always. Reo didn’t know Kentaro well enough to even know how to comfort him and Taiga was always careful, giving everyone space, because he was the type to need the same space sometimes. But maybe Nikaido’s reaction was what had actually been missing. Someone who wouldn’t give Kentaro the chance to crawl back in his shell.

The older one pulled the boy in his embrace and of course Kentaro tried to at least hide his sobs and somehow turn away his face so that the older one wouldn’t see his tears, but it didn’t take long until Nikaido backed off just far enough to cup the boy’s face and even though the grip wasn’t hurting him it was clear that Nikaido wouldn’t let him look away.

“Grief as long as it takes you to get over it. Miss him for the rest of your life. But don’t hide that you are hurt, it won’t help!”

Kentaro took a shuddering breath on that before some more tears found their way over Nikaido’s hands and dropped on the sheets. “I am sorry.”

Nikaido shook his head immediately, knowing how many meanings this apology had. Sorry for betraying him. Sorry for not having been able to let go of Aran. Sorry for bothering him of all people with his thoughts about the boy. Too many sorrys, too many things they couldn’t change anymore.

“Let the past rest. Don’t let it stop you from looking up and finding your way!”

“But what if the way I look up at is a path I can’t walk alone? What if I am not accepted back on that path?”

It was a weird yet familiar feeling seeing how Nikaido’s expression softened a bit on that question while he still looked kind of scolding. He moved one of his hands slightly to his cheek to stroke away the last tears.

“I was always waiting on that path. Waiting for you to stretch out your hand to get pulled back on it. There is always a spot for you next to me on that path, you just have to dare and step next to me.”

Kentaro felt his own hesitation, but no matter if Nikaido had noticed or not, he didn’t seem to mind. His expression didn’t change and he waited for the boy’s reaction. He waited, again. So often had he waited for him!

“Why do you even wait for an idiot like me?”

“Because I love that idiot!”

Before Kentaro could decide if he should start crying again on those words Nikaido shut him up with a kiss. Careful and slow, yet still the same familiar demanding movement in it. Kentaro shut his eyes and when he tried to calm down he realized that there was no need for that. He was calm.

Realizing that the only wall built up between him and Nikaido was his own insecurity he finally dared to make one step back onto the path Aran wanted him to continue on. Carefully he lifted one hand towards Nikaido’s cheek. He could feel how it was slightly shaking, but the moment it came in contact with Nikaido’s warm skin his movement got a bit steadier through the familiar feeling. Slowly Kentaro dared to deepen the kiss, but he still kept it passionate and slow, which was actually quite a challenge for both of them, because this was indeed not the tempo they were used to.

When Kentaro pulled back he lowered his head immediately and bit his lip, but there was still a sound escaping him. But when Nikaido realized that it wasn’t a sob, but more of a chuckle he bended a bit to the side to be able to look at his face.

“Stop that,” Kentaro scolded him and hit him against the chest while he tried to look to the side, but Nikaido let out a chuckle on that as well.

“So what is so amusing?”

“As if you don’t know,” Kentaro scolded him as he looked up with a faint smile, which was actually the exact same expression Nikaido showed him. “As much as I love your encouraging words, we both know that as soon as we get into physical contact a slow pace is something we can’t keep.”

“And?”

There it was again, a short moment of hesitation and of course Nikaido realized it immediately and his smile lost a bit of the teasing which actually made Kentaro curse at himself in silence.

“Don’t worry. You are of course free to leave at any time or we could also just sleep and talk tomor-”

Instead of letting him finish his sentence Kentaro shifted his position and sat on top of Nikaido’s lap. “Or...no talking tomorrow?”

“Maybe a bit more talking tomorrow, but definitely not today!”

He remembered saying the same words before, but he didn’t intend to just do this for distraction. It was just another step back on track. He couldn’t keep questioning every move he made. Every moment of hesitation, every pause or stumbling over his words would make Nikaido worry and there was no way he would let that happen.

“Mh, so no talking anymore?” Nikaido asked playfully this time as he shifted a bit more back on the bed and pulled Kentaro more on his lap. The boy leant to the front and lifted the older one’s chin with his pointer finger on that question before he tilted his head a bit and brushed his lips over the other ones.

“There are other sounds I want to hear instead of words,” Kentaro whispered against his lips and received a shiver in response. Everything about the way they were moving together, how easily they could make each other shiver under each other’s touch, it all felt so natural. There was nothing to hesitate about, nothing to feel ashamed of.

“Then I’d say everything is said for now,” Nikaido replied before he pushed himself a bit up again for another kiss. But Kentaro was the one getting the lead over it this time and he put his weight to the front making Nikaido lay down and luckily the older one didn’t seem to mind the boy’s sudden demanding attitude, because there was no way he could take the lead in anything regarding their relationship if Nikaido wasn’t allowing it.

“Can I say one more thing?” Kentaro asked a bit playful when he supported himself on his elbows next to Nikaido’s head.

“Breaking your own rule already? That didn’t take long.” Nikaido teased him on which Kentaro pinched him on the shoulder.

“It’s important!”

“Then I am all ears.”

“I love you too.” It was the reply to what Nikaido had said earlier and the older one understood that of course and his teasing look changed into a softer one before he put one hand to the boy’s cheek and caressed it carefully.

“That is good to know. Then it was worth fighting for both of us.”

It was obvious that Kentaro wanted to reply something to that, but Nikaido shut him up with another kiss, after all they had agreed on no more talking and a long conversation wasn’t necessary. Everything was said!


	22. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are with the EPILOGUE of REMAINS and this marks the official end of the whole series!  
> I hope you enjoyed the story until here! In case you stumbled over this story later on here are all the parts in the right order once more in case you want to read about their chaotic adventures from the beginning:
> 
> Tokyo Fight Club Chronicles  
> FIGHT CLUB  
> UNDERGROUND  
> OUTLAW
> 
> Story Of The Underworld  
> CALL OUT  
> COMEBACK  
> WAR CHILD  
> COMBAT  
> REMAINS

 

Instead of putting the blonde strand of hair behind his ear Taiga took a hold of it and observed it with a strange look as if he couldn’t understand how it had fallen into his eye.

“Are you trying to put a fight with your hair?” Kentaro addressed him with a playful smile as he stepped next to his friend.

Taiga let out a low chuckle on that before he put the strand back and let his fingers run through his hair. “It’s been a while since my hair was long enough to get into my eyes,” Taiga replied with a nostalgic smile.

“True, but it has also been a while since you’ve been back to blonde. Why the sudden change?”

“Mh, maybe I wanted a cooler image for the tournament?”

“You are seriously into winning this in your class aren’t you? Somehow I am happy that I changed classes.”

Both boys exchanged teasing looks on that statement before they heard the announcement of the beginning of the tournament.

“Shall we?” Kentaro asked with a challenging expression and Taiga gave him a nod before they both moved into the big room with the tournament ring in its middle.

The building was old, but it had been renovated for this tournament, after all it was the first national championship they held. And even though it was more of an unofficial event many fight clubs from all over Japan had gathered for it.

Miyadate and Watanabe had come with their new members of the new Sendai fight club. Ryo had showed up with his fighters from Osaka, everyone extremely happy about seeing Tegoshi competing in it, his look now more focused towards his own goals in life. They could tell that eventually he’d be fine.

Myuto’s club had also finally enough members again to compete and of course Fukka’s club had shown up as well.

“What’s with the cool entrance? Do you think they will bet more on you if you are late?”

On the familiar voice Taiga turned to the side before entering the ring where all other fight club members were gathering already.

“Look, I told you it’s cool,” Taiga said teasingly towards Kentaro, but the older one just rolled his eyes before he stepped into the ring and walked up to Nikaido.

“I didn’t mean your hair though,” Reo replied with a teasing look. “But I’ve to admit I like the color.”

“Thank you,” Taiga replied with a teasing expression. “Everything under control so far?”

“No escalations until now, but the tournament hasn’t even started, so let’s see.”

The Titanium Triangle was in charge of keeping the peace inside and around the building. Kitayama, and his men patrolling outside the building, while Kamenashi and his men were spread around the upper two floors where the customers gathered and Reo was downstairs with the Reapers to make sure no fights would escalate.

“You can handle this, don’t worry.”

Taiga’s supportive words had more than just a simple meaning, because there had been indeed times where Reo hadn’t been able to handle things and he had given Shintaro, Juri and Kochi a hard time, but they all believed in him and eventually things had worked out.

“Thank you. Then go and concentrate on your fight,” Reo said with an encouraging nod on which Taiga patted his shoulder with a bright smile before he finally stepped into the ring and stopped next to Ueda.

Almost a whole year had passed since they had defeated Avernus and things slowly, but steady went back into place. The national tournament was something they had come up with somewhere after a few months to bring the Underground together. If things worked out they would see after it ended, but they put their trust in the fight clubs and the Titanium Triangle.

“Then let’s draw the first fight,” Nakai announced after holding a short opening speech together with the other fight club leaders.

“First class will be number 3,” he announced after drawing a paper out of one of the buckets in front of him.

They had actually kept the drawing system they had used at the West Tokyo Fight Club before, but changed the rules a bit so that the five different fight classes would remain. But who was fighting was still decided through drawing, at least for the first few rounds. After the entire national champion would be decided for each class!

“First fighter today is Kyomoto Taiga.”

The look in Taiga’s eyes when his name got announced was something priceless. No fear, no worry. Pure confidence and also the same teasing attitude he had shown in his first fights after Kentaro got to know him. That was actually what made Kentaro relax instead of worry. They were all back on track. It took them all a lot of effort, tears and also some outraged screaming and fights to find back to the Fight Club they had been before, but now they had finally made it back to being not just the strongest fight club in Tokyo, but also the one known for their strong bonds between the members.

“His opponent will be Morita Myuto.”

That announcement brought even more fire in the boy’s eyes and he immediately found Myuto a few meters away from him with the same teasing look.

“Already regretting your change into the third class?” Taiga asked when the other members were told to leave the ring and the last bets were set at the upper floors.

“Maybe after this fight I make you crawl back into the second class,” Myuto replied with a lopsided smile. “Oh and which part of your body shall I break this time? We said your nose is too precious, right?”

They both couldn’t keep up with their fake teasing for a moment and Taiga put his hand in front of his mouth to hide a bright smile while Myuto chuckled and turned away, but his smile was still visible when he turned back to him after retreating to his side of the ring.

“Don’t be careless,” Ueda warned him as Taiga went back to the edge of the ring once more where his fight club members were waiting.

“I know, I know,” Taiga let out almost annoyed on which Kentaro chuckled.

“Still the same.”

Kentaro let out a hiss when he suddenly got hit on the head on that statement and he turned to find Nikaido behind him with a scolding look. “Same for you. You are both careless and reckless, as always.”

Both boys exchanged a short look on that before Kentaro shrugged his shoulders. “Guess this can’t be helped.”

Before Nikaido could hit him again he ducked away and stretched his tongue out, but of course Nikaido wouldn’t chase him through the hall with all the people present, even though it was clear that he would like to.

Taiga escaped a chuckle on their behavior before he wanted to turn around and start the fight. But Ueda suddenly grabbed him by the wrist and Taiga gave him a calm look.

“Please concentrate.”

Instead of a reply Taiga formed a smile before he leant a bit to the front and put one hand under Ueda’s chin before he leant in for a kiss. It didn’t matter if everyone present saw them like this. All that mattered to him was that he was able to actually be himself again and Ueda seemed to think the same way, because he deepened the kiss for a bit longer before he released Taiga’s wrist and made a step back from the ring.

“I believe in you.”

“That’s all I need to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I created this story over the past maybe 2-3 years and I never thought it would end up being so long! I hope you didn't annoyed of the length ;)  
> There might be a few side stories following (but not soon sorry^^") about Reo's past and maybe some other side stories!
> 
> For now my new Multi-Chapter work will be up soon! It's called YOSHIWARA. If you are interested pls check it out and thanks again for reading~


End file.
